Methods and apparatus for generating electronic records of locate operations

ABSTRACT

Exemplary apparatus include locate devices that generate, store and/or transmit electronic records of locate information relating to detection of underground facilities. An exemplary method for analyzing and processing locate information includes a computer-implemented method for visually rendering (e.g., in a display field of a display device) various aspects of locate operations. In one implementation, an output stream of data packets may be provided, wherein each data packet includes one or more flag fields that are set or reset upon at least one actuation of an actuation system of a locate device, and wherein at least some of the data packets include locate information relating to a locate operation.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims a priority benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §121, as acontinuation application of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/571,329, entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING ELECTRONICRECORDS OF LOCATE OPERATIONS,” filed Sep. 30, 2009 under attorney docketno. 098689-0359 (DYC0054US00).

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/571,329 claims the benefit, under 35U.S.C. §119(e), of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/102,122,entitled “Combination Locate and Marking Device With a Data AcquisitionSystem Installed Therein, and Associated Methods,” filed on Oct. 2,2008.

Each of the above-identified applications is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Field service operations may be any operation in which companiesdispatch technicians and/or other staff to perform certain activities,for example, installations, services and/or repairs. Field serviceoperations may exist in various industries, examples of which include,but are not limited to, network installations, utility installations,security systems, construction, medical equipment, heating, ventilatingand air conditioning (HVAC) and the like.

An example of a field service operation in the construction industry isa so-called “locate and marking operation,” also commonly referred tomore simply as a “locate operation” (or sometimes merely as “a locate”).In a typical locate operation, a locate technician visits a work site inwhich there is a plan to disturb the ground (e.g., excavate, dig one ormore holes and/or trenches, bore, etc.) so as to determine a presence oran absence of one or more underground facilities (such as various typesof utility cables and pipes) in a dig area to be excavated or disturbedat the work site. In some instances, a locate operation may be requestedfor a “design” project, in which there may be no immediate plan toexcavate or otherwise disturb the ground, but nonetheless informationabout a presence or absence of one or more underground facilities at awork site may be valuable to inform a planning, permitting and/orengineering design phase of a future construction project.

In many states, an excavator who plans to disturb ground at a work siteis required by law to notify any potentially affected undergroundfacility owners prior to undertaking an excavation activity. Advancednotice of excavation activities may be provided by an excavator (oranother party) by contacting a “one-call center.” One-call centerstypically are operated by a consortium of underground facility ownersfor the purposes of receiving excavation notices and in turn notifyingfacility owners and/or their agents of a plan to excavate. As part of anadvanced notification, excavators typically provide to the one-callcenter various information relating to the planned activity, including alocation (e.g., address) of the work site and a description of the digarea to be excavated or otherwise disturbed at the work site.

A locate operation typically is initiated as a result of an excavatorproviding an excavation notice to a one-call center. An excavationnotice also is commonly referred to as a “locate request,” and may beprovided by the excavator to the one-call center via an electronic mailmessage, information entry via a website maintained by the one-callcenter, or a telephone conversation between the excavator and a humanoperator at the one-call center. The locate request may include anaddress or some other location-related information describing thegeographic location of a work site at which the excavation is to beperformed, as well as a description of the dig area (e.g., a textdescription), such as its location relative to certain landmarks and/orits approximate dimensions, within which there is a plan to disturb theground at the work site. One-call centers similarly may receive locaterequests for design projects (for which, as discussed above, there maybe no immediate plan to excavate or otherwise disturb the ground).

Once underground facilities implicated by the locate request areidentified by a one-call center, the one-call center generates a “locaterequest ticket” (also known as a “locate ticket,” or simply a “ticket”).The locate request ticket essentially constitutes an instruction toinspect a work site and typically identifies the work site of theproposed excavation or design and a description of the dig area,typically lists on the ticket all of the underground facilities that maybe present at the work site (e.g., by providing a member code for thefacility owner of an underground facility), and may also include variousother information relevant to the proposed excavation or design (e.g.,the name of the excavation company, a name of a property owner or partycontracting the excavation company to perform the excavation, etc.). Theone-call center sends the ticket to one or more underground facilityowners and/or one or more locate service providers (who may be acting ascontracted agents of the facility owners) so that they can conduct alocate and marking operation to verify a presence or absence of theunderground facilities in the dig area. For example, in some instances,a given underground facility owner may operate its own fleet of locatetechnicians, in which case the one-call center may send the ticket tothe underground facility owner. In other instances, a given facilityowner may contract with a locate service provider to receive locaterequest tickets and perform a locate and marking operation in responseto received tickets on their behalf.

Upon receiving the locate request, a locate service provider or afacility owner (hereafter referred to as a “ticket recipient”) maydispatch a locate technician to the work site of planned excavation todetermine a presence or absence of one or more underground facilities inthe dig area to be excavated or otherwise disturbed. A typical firststep for the locate technician includes utilizing an undergroundfacility “locate device,” which is an instrument or set of instruments(also referred to commonly as a “locate set”) for detecting facilitiesthat are concealed in some manner, such as cables and pipes that arelocated underground. The locate device is employed by the technician toverify the presence or absence of underground facilities indicated inthe locate request ticket as potentially present in the dig area (e.g.,via the facility owner member codes listed in the ticket). This processis often referred to as a “locate operation.”

In one example of a locate operation, an underground facility locatedevice is used to detect electromagnetic fields that are generated by anapplied signal provided along a length of a target facility to beidentified. In this example, a locate device may include both a signaltransmitter to provide the applied signal (e.g., which is coupled by thelocate technician to a tracer wire disposed along a length of afacility), and a signal receiver which is generally a hand-heldapparatus carried by the locate technician as the technician walksaround the dig area to search for underground facilities. FIG. 1Aillustrates a conventional locate device 1500 (indicated by the dashedbox) that includes a transmitter 1505 and a locate receiver 1510. Thetransmitter 1505 is connected, via a connection point 1525, to a targetobject (in this example, underground facility 1515) located in theground 1520. The transmitter generates the applied signal 1530, which iscoupled to the underground facility via the connection point (e.g., to atracer wire along the facility), resulting in the generation of amagnetic field 1535. The magnetic field in turn is detected by thelocate receiver 1510, which itself may include one or more detectionantenna (not shown). The locate receiver 1510 indicates a presence of afacility when it detects electromagnetic fields arising from the appliedsignal 1530. Conversely, the absence of a signal detected by the locatereceiver generally indicates the absence of the target facility.

In yet another example, a locate device employed for a locate operationmay include a single instrument, similar in some respects to aconventional metal detector. In particular, such an instrument mayinclude an oscillator to generate an alternating current that passesthrough a coil, which in turn produces a first magnetic field. If apiece of electrically conductive metal is in close proximity to the coil(e.g., if an underground facility having a metal component is below/nearthe coil of the instrument), eddy currents are induced in the metal andthe metal produces its own magnetic field, which in turn affects thefirst magnetic field. The instrument may include a second coil tomeasure changes to the first magnetic field, thereby facilitatingdetection of metallic objects.

In addition to the locate operation, the locate technician alsogenerally performs a “marking operation,” in which the technician marksthe presence (and in some cases the absence) of a given undergroundfacility in the dig area based on the various signals detected (or notdetected) during the locate operation. For this purpose, the locatetechnician conventionally utilizes a “marking device” to dispense amarking material on, for example, the ground, pavement, or other surfacealong a detected underground facility. Marking material may be anymaterial, substance, compound, and/or element, used or which may be usedseparately or in combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate. Examplesof marking materials may include, but are not limited to, paint, chalk,dye, and/or iron. Marking devices, such as paint marking wands and/orpaint marking wheels, provide a convenient method of dispensing markingmaterials onto surfaces, such as onto the surface of the ground orpavement.

FIGS. 1B and 1C illustrate a conventional marking device 50 with amechanical actuation system to dispense paint as a marker. Generallyspeaking, the marking device 50 includes a handle 38 at a proximal endof an elongated shaft 36 and resembles a sort of “walking stick,” suchthat a technician may operate the marking device while standing/walkingin an upright or substantially upright position. A marking dispenserholder 40 is coupled to a distal end of the shaft 36 so as to containand support a marking dispenser 56, e.g., an aerosol paint can having aspray nozzle 54. Typically, a marking dispenser in the form of anaerosol paint can is placed into the holder 40 upside down, such thatthe spray nozzle 54 is proximate to the distal end of the shaft (closeto the ground, pavement or other surface on which markers are to bedispensed).

In FIGS. 1B and 1C, the mechanical actuation system of the markingdevice 50 includes an actuator or mechanical trigger 42 proximate to thehandle 38 that is actuated/triggered by the technician (e.g., viapulling, depressing or squeezing with fingers/hand). The actuator 42 isconnected to a mechanical coupler 52 (e.g., a rod) disposed inside andalong a length of the elongated shaft 36. The coupler 52 is in turnconnected to an actuation mechanism 58, at the distal end of the shaft36, which mechanism extends outward from the shaft in the direction ofthe spray nozzle 54. Thus, the actuator 42, the mechanical coupler 52,and the actuation mechanism 58 constitute the mechanical actuationsystem of the marking device 50.

FIG. 1B shows the mechanical actuation system of the conventionalmarking device 50 in the non-actuated state, wherein the actuator 42 is“at rest” (not being pulled) and, as a result, the actuation mechanism58 is not in contact with the spray nozzle 54. FIG. 1C shows the markingdevice 50 in the actuated state, wherein the actuator 42 is beingactuated (pulled, depressed, squeezed) by the technician. When actuated,the actuator 42 displaces the mechanical coupler 52 and the actuationmechanism 58 such that the actuation mechanism contacts and appliespressure to the spray nozzle 54, thus causing the spray nozzle todeflect slightly and dispense paint. The mechanical actuation system isspring-loaded so that it automatically returns to the non-actuated state(FIG. 1B) when the actuator 42 is released.

In some environments, arrows, flags, darts, or other types of physicalmarks may be used to mark the presence or absence of an undergroundfacility in a dig area, in addition to or as an alternative to amaterial applied to the ground (such as paint, chalk, dye, tape) alongthe path of a detected utility. The marks resulting from any of a widevariety of materials and/or objects used to indicate a presence orabsence of underground facilities generally are referred to as “locatemarks.” Often, different color materials and/or physical objects may beused for locate marks, wherein different colors correspond to differentutility types. For example, the American Public Works Association (APWA)has established a standardized color-coding system for utilityidentification for use by public agencies, utilities, contractors andvarious groups involved in ground excavation (e.g., red=electric powerlines and cables; blue=potable water; orange=telecommunication lines;yellow=gas, oil, steam). In some cases, the technician also may provideone or more marks to indicate that no facility was found in the dig area(sometimes referred to as a “clear”).

As mentioned above, the foregoing activity of identifying and marking apresence or absence of one or more underground facilities generally isreferred to for completeness as a “locate and marking operation.”However, in light of common parlance adopted in the constructionindustry, and/or for the sake of brevity, one or both of the respectivelocate and marking functions may be referred to in some instances simplyas a “locate operation” or a “locate” (i.e., without making any specificreference to the marking function). Accordingly, it should beappreciated that any reference in the relevant arts to the task of alocate technician simply as a “locate operation” or a “locate” does notnecessarily exclude the marking portion of the overall process. At thesame time, in some contexts a locate operation is identified separatelyfrom a marking operation, wherein the former relates more specificallyto detection-related activities and the latter relates more specificallyto marking-related activities.

Inaccurate locating and/or marking of underground facilities can resultin physical damage to the facilities, property damage, and/or personalinjury during the excavation process that, in turn, can expose afacility owner or contractor to significant legal liability. Whenunderground facilities are damaged and/or when property damage orpersonal injury results from damaging an underground facility during anexcavation, the excavator may assert that the facility was notaccurately located and/or marked by a locate technician, while thelocate contractor who dispatched the technician may in turn assert thatthe facility was indeed properly located and marked. Proving whether theunderground facility was properly located and marked can be difficultafter the excavation (or after some damage, e.g., a gas explosion),because in many cases the physical locate marks (e.g., the markingmaterial or other physical marks used to mark the facility on thesurface of the dig area) will have been disturbed or destroyed duringthe excavation process (and/or damage resulting from excavation).

Previous efforts at documenting locate operations have focused primarilyon locate devices that employ electromagnetic fields to determine thepresence of an underground facility. For example, U.S. Pat. No.5,576,973, naming inventor Alan Haddy and entitled “Apparatus and Methodfor Obtaining Geographical Positional Data for an Object LocatedUnderground” (hereafter “Haddy”), is directed to a locate device (i.e.,a “locator”) that receives and stores data from a global positioningsystem (“GPS”) to identify the position of the locate device as anunderground object (e.g., a cable) is detected by the locate device.Haddy notes that by recording geographical position data relating to thedetected underground object, there is no need to physically mark thelocation of the underground object on the ground surface, and therecorded position data may be used in the future to re-locate theunderground object.

Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 7,319,387, naming inventors Willson et al. andentitled “GPS Interface for Locating Device” (hereafter “Willson”), isdirected to a locate device for locating “position markers,” i.e.,passive antennas that reflect back RF signals and which are installedalong buried utilities. In Willson, a GPS device may be communicativelycoupled to the locate device, or alternatively provided as an integralpart of the locate device, to store GPS coordinate data associated withposition markers detected by the locate device. Electronic memory isprovided in the locate device for storing a data record of the GPScoordinate data, and the data record may be uploaded to a remotecomputer and used to update a mapping database for utilities.

U.S. Publication No. 2006/0282280, naming inventors Stotz et al. andentitled “Ticket and Data Management” (hereafter “Stotz”), also isdirected to a locate device (i.e., a “locator”) including a GPSreceiver. Upon detection of the presence of a utility line, Stotz'locate device can update ticket data with GPS coordinates for thedetected utility line. Once the locate device has updated the ticketdata, the reconfigured ticket data may be transmitted to a network.

U.S. Publication No. 2007/0219722, naming inventors Sawyer, Jr. et al.and entitled “System and Method for Collecting and Updating GeographicalData” (hereafter “Sawyer”), is directed to collecting and recording datarepresentative of the location and characteristics of utilities andinfrastructure in the field for creating a grid or map. Sawyer employs afield data collection unit including a “locating pole” that is placed ontop of or next to a utility to be identified and added to the grid ormap. The locating pole includes an antenna coupled to a locationdetermination system, such as a GPS unit, to provide longitudinal andlatitudinal coordinates of the utility under or next to the end of thelocating pole. The data gathered by the field data collection unit issent to a server to provide a permanent record that may be used fordamage prevention and asset management operations.

SUMMARY

Applicants have recognized and appreciated that uncertainties which maybe attendant to locate and marking operations may be significantlyreduced by collecting various information particularly relating to themarking operation, and in some cases both the marking operation and thecorresponding locate operation, rather than merely focusing oninformation relating to detection of underground facilities via a locatedevice. In many instances, excavators arriving to a work site have onlyphysical locate marks on which to rely to indicate a presence or absenceof underground facilities, and they are not generally privy toinformation that may have been collected previously during the locateoperation. Accordingly, the integrity and accuracy of the physicallocate marks applied during a marking operation arguably issignificantly more important in connection with reducing risk of damageand/or injury during excavation than the location of where anunderground facility was detected via a locate device during a locateoperation.

More specifically, Applicants have recognized and appreciated thatconventional techniques for using a locate device to detect undergroundfacilities are sometimes tentative and typically iterative in nature,and use of locate devices with GPS capabilities may result in redundant,spurious and/or incomplete geographic location data collection. Forexample, during a typical locate operation, a technician attempting tolocate an underground facility with a locate device often needs to sweepan appreciable area around a suspected underground facility, and makemultiple passes with the locate device over the underground facility toobtain meaningful detection signals. Furthermore, the technician oftenneeds to rely significantly on visual observations of the area,including relevant landmarks such as facility connections to buildings,transformer boxes, maintenance/public access points, curbs, sidewalks,roadways, etc., to effectively deduce a sensible path of an undergroundfacility to be located. The foregoing is particularly true if at somepoint during the locate operation the technician loses a signal from anunderground facility in the process of being detected (e.g., due to abroken transmitter circuit path from a damaged tracer wire, and loss ofthe transmitter's applied signal). In view of the foregoing, it may bereadily appreciated that collecting and logging geographic locationinformation throughout this process may result in excessive and/orimprecise data, or in some instances incomplete relevant data (e.g., inthe case of signal loss/broken tracer wire), from which it may bedifficult to cull the data that is truly complete and representative ofwhere the underground facility ultimately was detected.

Yet, Applicants have recognized and appreciated that collecting locationdata, such as GPS data, in connection with use of a locate device may bevaluable for reasons other than marking a location of an undergroundfacility. For example, the data may be valuable in monitoring theperformance of a technician (e.g., by comparing performance to a known“signature” of a technician's historical performance), mapping areas ofpoor signal strength, or for other reasons. The data may be processed invarious manners of use to various parties, depending on their particularinterest in a locate operation. In addition, as described further below,the collection of GPS data with respect to both locate and markingoperations, as opposed to locate operations alone, may also providevaluable insight and analysis potential with respect to various aspects(e.g., technician performance, comparison to historical data, etc.) of alocate operation.

Furthermore, Applicants have recognized and appreciated that thelocation at which an underground facility ultimately is detected duringa locate operation is not always where the technician physically marksthe ground, pavement or other surface during a marking operation; infact, technician imprecision or negligence, as well as various groundconditions and/or different operating conditions amongst differentlocate devices, may in some instances result in significantdiscrepancies between detected location and physical locate marks.Accordingly, having documentation (e.g., an electronic record) of wherephysical locate marks were actually dispensed (i.e., what an excavatorencounters when arriving to a work site) is notably more relevant to theassessment of liability in the event of damage and/or injury than wherean underground facility was detected prior to marking.

Examples of marking devices configured to collect some types ofinformation relating specifically to marking operations are provided inU.S. publication no. 2008-0228294-A1, published Sep. 18, 2008, filedMar. 13, 2007, and entitled “Marking System and Method With Locationand/or Time Tracking,” and U.S. publication no. 2008-0245299-A1,published Oct. 9, 2008, filed Apr. 4, 2007, and entitled “Marking Systemand Method,” both of which publications are incorporated herein byreference. These publications describe, amongst other things, collectinginformation relating to the geographic location, time, and/orcharacteristics (e.g., color/type) of dispensed marking material from amarking device and generating an electronic record based on thiscollected information. Applicants have recognized and appreciated thatcollecting information relating to both geographic location and color ofdispensed marking material provides for automated correlation ofgeographic information for a locate mark to facility type (e.g.,red=electric power lines and cables; blue=potable water;orange=telecommunication lines; yellow=gas, oil, steam); in contrast, inconventional locate devices equipped with GPS capabilities as discussedabove, there is no apparent automated provision for readily linking GPSinformation for a detected facility to the type of facility detected.

In view of marking devices configured to collect information relatingspecifically to marking operations, Applicants have further appreciatedthat collecting information relating to both locate operations andcorresponding marking operations further facilitates ensuring theaccuracy of such operations; to this end, Applicants have recognizedthat various advantages may be obtained via communication and sharing ofinformation between locate devices and marking devices, and/or combiningthe respective functionalities of such devices into an integratedinstrument.

In view of the foregoing, various inventive embodiments disclosed hereinrelate generally to systems, methods and apparatus for collecting,logging (electronically storing), formatting, processing, and/orelectronically analyzing a variety of information relating to bothlocate operations and marking operations. More specifically, someexemplary embodiments described herein are directed to systems, methodsand apparatus for acquiring information relating to both locateoperations and marking operations, generating comprehensive electronicrecords of the acquired information, and storing and/or transmitting oneor more electronic records for subsequent access, processing and/oranalysis.

One illustrative embodiment of the various concepts discussed herein isdirected to a combined locate and marking apparatus configured toperform various functions attendant to both locate and markingoperations and configured to generate electronic records of both locateinformation and marking information relating to these respectiveoperations.

During and/or following collection and/or storage of locate informationand/or marking information, data compiled in one or more electronicrecords of acquired information may be accessed, processed and/oranalyzed to provide further information relating to the performance ofthe locate and marking operation. For example, in other embodimentsdisclosed herein, data from one or more electronic records of locateinformation and/or marking information is processed so as toelectronically render (visually recreate) various aspects of the locateand/or marking operations (e.g., on a display device associated with thecombined locate and marking apparatus or other display device).

In sum, one embodiment of the present invention is directed to acombination locate and marking apparatus. The apparatus comprises anactuation mechanism to control dispensing of a marking material, atleast one receiver antenna to detect a magnetic field from a targetobject, a memory to store processor-executable instructions, and aprocessor coupled to the memory and the at least one receiver antenna.Upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by theprocessor, the processor logs in the memory locate information relatingat least in part to operation of the at least one receiver antennaand/or marking information relating at least in part to the markingmaterial.

Another embodiment is directed to a combined locate and markingapparatus for logging information relating to a locate and markingoperation for at least one underground facility. The apparatus comprisesan actuator to dispense a marking material so as to form at least onelocate mark on ground, pavement or other surface to mark the presence orthe absence of the at least one underground facility, and at least onereceiver antenna to detect a magnetic field from the at least oneunderground facility. The apparatus further comprises at least one inputdevice to provide locate information regarding the locate operationand/or marking information regarding the marking operation, the locateinformation relating at least in part to operation of the at least onereceiver antenna and the marking information relating at least in partto the marking material. The apparatus further comprises a mode selectordevice to facilitate selection of a locate mode and a marking mode forthe apparatus, a memory to store processor-executable instructions, anda processor coupled to the memory, the mode selector device, the atleast one input device, the at least one receiver antenna, and theactuator. Upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by theprocessor: 1) when the apparatus is in the marking mode, the processorlogs in the memory, in response to at least one actuation of theactuator, at least some of the marking information provided by the atleast one input device; and 2) when the apparatus is in the locate mode,the processor logs in the memory at least some of the locate informationprovided by the at least one input device.

Another embodiment is directed to a method for performing a locate andmarking operation for at least one underground facility using a combinedlocate and marking apparatus. The method comprises A) detecting, via atleast one receiver antenna of the apparatus, a magnetic field from theat least one underground facility; B) dispensing a marking material fromthe apparatus so as to form at least one locate mark on ground, pavementor other surface to mark the presence or the absence of the at least oneunderground facility; and C) logging into local memory of the apparatuslocate information relating at least in part to A) and/or markinginformation relating at least in part to B).

Another embodiment is directed to a method for providing on a displaydevice an electronic rendering of a locate and marking operation tolocate at least one underground facility and mark on ground, pavement,or other surface a presence or an absence of the at least oneunderground facility. The method comprises: A) accessing an electronicrecord of the locate and marking operation, the electronic recordcomprising a first data set associated with detection of the at leastone underground facility and a second data set associated with acorresponding locate mark, wherein the first data set comprises a firstpiece of geographic information corresponding to a location at which theat least one underground facility was detected and wherein the seconddata set comprises a second piece of geographic information for thecorresponding locate mark; and B) displaying on the display device atleast one electronic detection mark and at least one electronic locatemark, based at least in part on the first and second pieces ofgeographic information.

Another embodiment is directed to at least one computer-readable storagemedium storing an electronic record of a locate operation and acorresponding marking operation. The electronic record comprises atleast one data set comprising a first field including locate informationrelating to detection of at least one first underground facility duringthe locate operation, and a second field including marking informationrelating to dispensing a marking material during the correspondingmarking operation. In various aspects, one or both of the locateinformation and the marking information comprises geographic informationindicative of a location at which the at least one underground facilitywas detected during the locate operation and marked during thecorresponding marking operation. In another aspect, a machine isconstituted by the at least one computer-readable storage medium incombination with at least one processor, wherein the at least onecomputer-readable storage medium further stores processor-executableinstructions, and wherein the processor, upon execution of theprocessor-executable instructions, accesses at least one of the firstfield and the second field. In yet another aspect, upon execution of theprocessor-executable instructions by the processor, the at least oneprocessor displays on a display device at least one electronic locatemark to provide an electronic rendering of the locate operation and/orthe corresponding marking operation, based at least in part on thelocate information in the first field and/or the marking information inthe second field.

Another embodiment is directed to an apparatus for detecting a presenceor absence of a target object. The apparatus comprises an actuator, atleast one receiver antenna to detect a magnetic field from the targetobject, a memory to store processor-executable instructions, and aprocessor coupled to the memory and the at least one receiver antenna.Upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by theprocessor, the processor logs in the memory locate information relatingat least in part to operation of the at least one receiver antenna,wherein the processor is configured to log the locate information in thememory in response to: (i) actuation of the actuator; or (ii) at leastone event based at least partially on a characteristic of the magneticfield detected by the at least one receiver antenna.

Another embodiment is directed to a locate device for logging locateinformation relating to a locate operation for at least one undergroundfacility. The apparatus comprises an actuator and at least one receiverantenna to detect a magnetic field from the at least one undergroundfacility, wherein the locate information includes magnetic fieldinformation based on the detected magnetic field. The apparatus furthercomprises at least one input device to provide geographic informationregarding the locate operation, wherein the locate information furtherincludes the geographic information. The apparatus further comprises amemory to store processor-executable instructions, and a processorcoupled to the memory, the at least one input device, the at least onereceiver antenna, and the actuator. Upon execution of theprocessor-executable instructions by the processor, and in response toactuation of the actuator, the processor logs in the memory at leastsome of the locate information provided by the at least one input deviceand the at least one receiver antenna.

Another embodiment is directed to a method for performing a locateoperation for at least one underground facility using a locateapparatus. The method comprises: A) detecting, via at least one receiverantenna of the apparatus, a magnetic field from the at least oneunderground facility; and B) logging into local memory of the apparatuslocate information relating at least in part to A), wherein B) isperformed in response to actuating an actuator or detecting at least oneevent based at least in part on a characteristic of the magnetic fielddetected by the at least one receiver antenna.

Another embodiment is directed to a method for providing on a displaydevice an electronic rendering of a locate operation to locate at leastone underground facility. The method comprises: A) accessing anelectronic record of the locate operation, the electronic recordcomprising a first data set associated with detection of the at leastone underground facility by a locate receiver, wherein the first dataset comprises a first piece of geographic information corresponding to alocation at which the at least one underground facility was detected;and B) for the first data set of the electronic record, displaying onthe display device at least one electronic detection mark based at leastin part on the first piece of geographic information.

Another embodiment is directed to at least one computer-readable storagemedium storing an electronic record of a locate operation, theelectronic record comprising at least one data set comprising: a firstfield including information relating to a magnetic field detected duringthe locate operation; a second field including geographical informationabout a location of a locate receiver used in the locate operation; anda third field including timing information about a time at which anactuator of the locate receiver was actuated.

Another embodiment is directed to a locate device to perform a locateoperation to detect a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility. The locate device comprises: an actuation system; a memory tostore processor-executable instructions; and a processor coupled to thememory and the actuation system, wherein upon execution of theprocessor-executable instructions by the processor, the processorprovides an output stream of data packets, each data packet including atleast one flag field that is set or reset upon at least one actuation ofthe actuation system, wherein at least some of the data packets includelocate information relating to the locate operation.

Another embodiment is directed to a method for providing locateinformation relating to a locate operation to detect a presence or anabsence of at least one underground facility, the method comprising: A)effecting at least one actuation of an actuation system of a locatedevice to log the locate information; and B) providing an output streamof data packets, each data packet including at least one flag field thatis set or reset upon the at least one actuation of the at least oneactuation system, wherein at least some of the data packets include thelocate information.

Another embodiment is directed to a data acquisition system, comprising:a locate device comprising at least one receiver antenna configured todetect a magnetic field from a target object, the locate device furthercomprising a first memory to store locate information based at least inpart on operation of the at least one receiver antenna; and a markingdevice distinct from the locate device and comprising an actuationmechanism to control dispensing of a marking material to mark a locationof the target object, the marking device further comprising a secondmemory to store marking information relating at least in part to themarking material, wherein the locate device is communicatively coupledto the marking device to exchange at least one of the locate informationand the marking information.

For purposes of the present disclosure, the term “dig area” refers to aspecified area of a work site within which there is a plan to disturbthe ground (e.g., excavate, dig holes and/or trenches, bore, etc.), andbeyond which there is no plan to excavate in the immediate surroundings.Thus, the metes and bounds of a dig area are intended to providespecificity as to where some disturbance to the ground is planned at agiven work site. It should be appreciated that a given work site mayinclude multiple dig areas.

The term “facility” refers to one or more lines, cables, fibers,conduits, transmitters, receivers, or other physical objects orstructures capable of or used for carrying, transmitting, receiving,storing, and providing utilities, energy, data, substances, and/orservices, and/or any combination thereof. The term “undergroundfacility” means any facility beneath the surface of the ground. Examplesof facilities include, but are not limited to, oil, gas, water, sewer,power, telephone, data transmission, cable television (TV), and/orinternet services.

The term “locate device” refers to any apparatus and/or device, usedalone or in combination with any other device, for detecting and/orinferring the presence or absence of any facility, including withoutlimitation, any underground facility. In various examples, a locatedevice may include both a locate transmitter and a locate receiver(which in some instances may also be referred to collectively as a“locate instrument set,” or simply “locate set”).

The term “marking device” refers to any apparatus, mechanism, or otherdevice that employs a marking dispenser for causing a marking materialand/or marking object to be dispensed, or any apparatus, mechanism, orother device for electronically indicating (e.g., logging in memory) alocation, such as a location of an underground facility. Additionally,the term “marking dispenser” refers to any apparatus, mechanism, orother device for dispensing and/or otherwise using, separately or incombination, a marking material and/or a marking object. An example of amarking dispenser may include, but is not limited to, a pressurized canof marking paint. The term “marking material” means any material,substance, compound, and/or element, used or which may be usedseparately or in combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate. Examplesof marking materials may include, but are not limited to, paint, chalk,dye, and/or iron. The term “marking object” means any object and/orobjects used or which may be used separately or in combination to mark,signify, and/or indicate. Examples of marking objects may include, butare not limited to, a flag, a dart, and arrow, and/or an RFID markingball. It is contemplated that marking material may include markingobjects. It is further contemplated that the terms “marking materials”or “marking objects” may be used interchangeably in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

The term “locate mark” means any mark, sign, and/or object employed toindicate the presence or absence of any underground facility. Examplesof locate marks may include, but are not limited to, marks made withmarking materials, marking objects, global positioning or otherinformation, and/or any other means. Locate marks may be represented inany form including, without limitation, physical, visible, electronic,and/or any combination thereof.

The terms “actuate” or “trigger” (verb form) are used interchangeably torefer to starting or causing any device, program, system, and/or anycombination thereof to work, operate, and/or function in response tosome type of signal or stimulus. Examples of actuation signals orstimuli may include, but are not limited to, any local or remote,physical, audible, inaudible, visual, non-visual, electronic,mechanical, electromechanical, biomechanical, biosensing or othersignal, instruction, or event. The terms “actuator” or “trigger” (nounform) are used interchangeably to refer to any method or device used togenerate one or more signals or stimuli to cause or causing actuation.Examples of an actuator/trigger may include, but are not limited to, anyform or combination of a lever, switch, program, processor, screen,microphone for capturing audible commands, and/or other device ormethod. An actuator/trigger may also include, but is not limited to, adevice, software, or program that responds to any movement and/orcondition of a user, such as, but not limited to, eye movement, brainactivity, heart rate, other data, and/or the like, and generates one ormore signals or stimuli in response thereto. In the case of a markingdevice or other marking mechanism (e.g., to physically or electronicallymark a facility or other feature), actuation may cause marking materialto be dispensed, as well as various data relating to the markingoperation (e.g., geographic location, time stamps, characteristics ofmaterial dispensed, etc.) to be logged in an electronic file stored inmemory.

The terms “locate and marking operation,” “locate operation,” and“locate” generally are used interchangeably and refer to any activity todetect, infer, and/or mark the presence or absence of an undergroundfacility. In some contexts, the term “locate operation” is used to morespecifically refer to detection of one or more underground facilities,and the term “marking operation” is used to more specifically refer tousing a marking material and/or one or more marking objects to mark apresence or an absence of one or more underground facilities. The term“locate technician” refers to an individual performing a locateoperation. A locate and marking operation often is specified inconnection with a dig area, at least a portion of which may be excavatedor otherwise disturbed during excavation activities.

The term “user” refers to an individual utilizing a locate device and/ora marking device and may include, but is not limited to, land surveyors,locate technicians, and support personnel.

The terms “locate request” and “excavation notice” are usedinterchangeably to refer to any communication to request a locate andmarking operation. The term “locate request ticket” (or simply “ticket”)refers to any communication or instruction to perform a locateoperation. A ticket might specify, for example, the address ordescription of a dig area to be marked, the day and/or time that the digarea is to be marked, and/or whether the user is to mark the excavationarea for certain gas, water, sewer, power, telephone, cable television,and/or some other underground facility. The term “historical ticket”refers to past tickets that have been completed.

The term “complex event processing (CEP)” refers to a software and/orhardware-implemented (e.g., facilitated by a computer system,distributed computer system, computational analysis coded in software,and/or a combination thereof) technique relating to recognizing one ormore events, patterns of events, or the absence of an event or patternof events, within one or more input streams of information andperforming one or more actions and/or computations in response to suchrecognition, in accordance with specified rules, criteria, algorithms,or logic. CEP generally involves detection of relationships betweeninformation contained in input streams (which input streams may includeindications of previously recognized events), such as causality,membership, timing, event-driven processes, detection of complexpatterns of one or more events, event streams processing, eventcorrelation and abstraction, and/or event hierarchies. CEP maycomplement and contribute to technologies such as, but not limited to,service oriented architecture (SOA), event driven architecture (EDA),and/or business process management (BPM). CEP allows the informationcontained in the events flowing through all of the layers of a servicebusiness, an enterprise information technology infrastructure and/ormanagement operation to be discovered, analyzed, and understood in termsof its impact on management goals and business processes, and acted uponin real time or as a management process.

The following U.S. published application are hereby incorporated hereinby reference:

-   U.S. publication no. 2008-0228294-A1, published Sep. 18, 2008, filed    Mar. 13, 2007, and entitled “Marking System and Method With Location    and/or Time Tracking;”-   U.S. publication no. 2008-0245299-A1, published Oct. 9, 2008, filed    Apr. 4, 2007, and entitled “Marking System and Method;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0013928-A1, published Jan. 15, 2009, filed    Sep. 24, 2008, and entitled “Marking System and Method;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0202101-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Feb. 12, 2008, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground    Facility Locate Marks;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0202110-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Sep. 11, 2008, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground    Facility Locate Marks;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0201311-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Jan. 30, 2009, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground    Facility Locate Marks;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0202111-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Jan. 30, 2009, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground    Facility Locate Marks;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0204625-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Feb. 5, 2009, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground    Facility Locate Operation;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0204466-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Sep. 4, 2008, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method of    Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0207019-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filed    Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method    of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0210284-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filed    Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method    of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0210297-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filed    Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method    of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0210298-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filed    Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method    of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0210285-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filed    Apr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method    of Performing Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0204238-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Feb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Electronically Controlled Marking    Apparatus and Methods;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0208642-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filed    Feb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Marking Apparatus and Methods For    Creating an Electronic Record of Marking Operations;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0210098-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filed    Feb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Marking Apparatus and Methods For    Creating an Electronic Record of Marking Apparatus Operations;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0201178-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Feb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Methods For Evaluating Operation of    Marking Apparatus;”-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0202112-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Feb. 11, 2009, and entitled “Searchable Electronic Records of    Underground Facility Locate Marking Operations;” and-   U.S. publication no. 2009-0204614-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filed    Feb. 11, 2009, and entitled “Searchable Electronic Records of    Underground Facility Locate Marking Operations.”

It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing conceptsand additional concepts discussed in greater detail below (provided suchconcepts are not mutually inconsistent) are contemplated as being partof the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. In particular, allcombinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the end of thisdisclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive subjectmatter disclosed herein. It should also be appreciated that terminologyexplicitly employed herein that also may appear in any disclosureincorporated by reference should be accorded a meaning most consistentwith the particular concepts disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates a conventional locate instrument set (locate device)including a transmitter and a receiver;

FIGS. 1B and 1C illustrate a conventional marking device in anon-actuated and actuated state, respectively;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a data acquisition systemaccording to one embodiment of the present invention for creatingelectronic records of marking operations based on actuations of amarking device;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the data acquisition system of FIG. 2,illustrating an exemplary marking device according to one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a portion of an actuation system of themarking device of FIG. 3 according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 illustrates various components of an actuation system 120according to other embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an exemplary marking device being usedfor marking a dotting pattern, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an exemplary marking device being usedfor marking a lines pattern, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a plan view that shows further details of the lines pattern ofFIG. 7, in connection with the information acquired for purposes ofcreating an electronic record according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for collecting markinginformation for generation of an electronic record, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary data structure for anelectronic record of a marking operation including information retrievedduring one or more actuations of a marking device, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 11A and 11B conceptually illustrate a portion of an actuationsystem of a marking device including a mechanical coupler, in which themarking device has been modified to accommodate a landmark mode,according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for operating a markingdevice having a marking mode and a landmark mode so as to collectmarking information and/or environmental landmark information, andgenerate an electronic record of such information, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an exemplary data structure for anelectronic record of a marking operation including both markinginformation and landmark information retrieved during actuations of amarking device, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate a functional block diagram and perspectiveview, respectively, of a data acquisition system including a locatereceiver, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates a data acquisition system comprising a locatereceiver communicatively coupled to a marking device, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate a functional block diagram and a perspectiveview, respectively, of a data acquisition system including a combinationlocate and marking device, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 19 and 20 illustrate two non-limiting illustrative methods,according to embodiments of the present invention, which may employ acombination locate and marking device as described herein;

FIG. 21 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for displaying a visualrepresentation of a marking operation in a display field having apredetermined scale, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 22 is an example of a visual representation showing electroniclocate marks based on collected data corresponding to respectiveactuations of a marking device or a combined locate and marking deviceduring marking operations, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 23 is an example of another visual representation of markingoperations, according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 24 is an example of another visual representation of markingoperations, according to another embodiment of the present invention, inwhich electronic locate marks are overlaid on a digital image of a worksite/dig area.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Following below are more detailed descriptions of various conceptsrelated to, and embodiments of, inventive systems, methods and apparatusfor generating electronic records of locate operations and markingoperations. It should be appreciated that various concepts introducedabove and discussed in greater detail below may be implemented in any ofnumerous ways, as the disclosed concepts are not limited to anyparticular manner of implementation. Examples of specificimplementations and applications are provided primarily for illustrativepurposes.

I. OVERVIEW

Locate information associated with a locate operation, as well asmarking information associated with a marking operation, mayrespectively and collectively provide valuable insight into theexecution of these operations by a technician and the integrity andaccuracy of these operations, and further may be useful in assessingsubsequent damage to underground facilities or for reducing/mitigatingpotential damage to facilities, property damage, and/or personal injury.

Accordingly, various embodiments discussed herein relate generallyto: 1) marking devices that generate, store and/or transmit electronicrecords of marking information; 2) locate devices that generate, storeand/or transmit electronic records of locate information; 3) locatedevices and marking devices that communicate with each other (andoptionally with other devices or systems) to share/exchange locateinformation and marking information; 4) a combined locate and markingapparatus that constitutes an integrated device capable of variousfunctionality germane to respective locate and marking devices, andconfigured for generating electronic records of both locate informationand marking information; and 5) various methods for analyzing andprocessing locate information and/or marking information, includingcomputer-implemented methods for visually rendering (e.g., in a displayfield of a display device) various aspects of locate and markingoperations.

The sections set forth below in turn provide detailed descriptions ofthese respective topics.

II. MARKING DEVICE FOR GENERATING ELECTRONIC RECORDS OF MARKINGOPERATIONS

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate a functional block diagram and perspectiveview, respectively, of one example of a data acquisition system 100,including a marking device 110 and optionally a remote computer 150,according to one embodiment of the present invention. One or both of themarking device 110 and the remote computer 150 of the data acquisitionsystem 100 may be configured to sense one or more actuations of themarking device 110 (e.g., to dispense marking material during a markingoperation), and collect information based on one or more actuations ofthe marking device so as to generate an electronic record.

As shown in FIG. 2, in one embodiment marking device 110 includescontrol electronics 112, the components of which are powered by a powersource 114. Power source 114 may be any power source that is suitablefor use in a portable device, such as, but not limited to, one or morerechargeable batteries, one or more non-rechargeable batteries, a solarphotovoltaic panel, a standard AC power plug feeding an AC-to-DCconverter, and the like.

The marking device 110 is configured to hold a marking dispenser 116,which as shown in FIG. 3 is loaded into a marking material holder 140 ofthe marking device 110. In one exemplary implementation, the markingdispenser 116 is an aerosol paint canister that contains paint; however,it should be appreciated that the present invention is not limited inthis respect, as a marking material dispensed by the marking device 110may be any material, substance, compound, and/or element, used to mark,signify, and/or indicate. Examples of marking materials may include, butare not limited to, paint, chalk, dye, and/or marking powder.

As also shown in FIG. 2, in one embodiment control electronics 112 ofmarking device 110 may include, but are not limited to, a processor 118,at least a portion of an actuation system 120 (another portion of whichmay include one or more mechanical elements), a local memory 122, acommunication interface 124, a user interface 126, a timing system 128,and a location tracking system 130.

The processor 118 may be any general-purpose processor, controller, ormicrocontroller device. Local memory 122 may be any volatile ornon-volatile data storage device, such as, but not limited to, a randomaccess memory (RAM) device and a removable memory device (e.g., auniversal serial bus (USB) flash drive, a multimedia card (MMC), asecure digital card (SD), a compact flash card (CF), etc.). As discussedfurther below, the local memory may store a marking data algorithm 134,which may be a set of processor-executable instructions that whenexecuted by the processor 118 causes the processor to control variousother components of the marking device 110 so as to generate anelectronic record 135 of a marking operation, which record also may bestored in the local memory 122 and/or transmitted in essentiallyreal-time (as it is being generated) or after completion of a markingoperation to a remote device (e.g., remote computer 150).

In one exemplary implementation, a Linux-based processing system forembedded handheld and/or wireless devices may be employed in the markingdevice 110 to implement various components of the control electronics112. For example, the Fingertip4™ processing system, including a MarvellPXA270 processor and available from InHand Electronics, Inc.(www.inhandelectronics.com/products/fingertip4), may be used. Inaddition to the PXA270 processor (e.g., serving as the processor 118),the Fingertip4™ includes flash memory and SDRAM (e.g., serving as localmemory 122), multiple serial ports, a USB port, and other I/O interfaces(e.g., to facilitate interfacing with one or more input devices andother components of the marking device), supports a variety of wired andwireless interfaces (WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Ethernet, any IEEE 802.11interface, or any other suitable wireless interface) to facilitateimplementation of the communication interface 124, and connects to awide variety of LCD displays (to facilitate implementation of a userinterface/display).

Communication interface 124 of marking device 110 may be any wiredand/or wireless communication interface by which information may beexchanged between marking device 110 and an external or remote device,such as a remote computing device that is elsewhere in the dig area(i.e., not a part of the marking device 110) or outside the dig area.For example, data that is provided by components of data acquisitionsystem 100 and/or stored in local memory 122 (e.g., one or moreelectronic records 135) may be transmitted via communication interface124 to a remote computer, such as remote computer 150, for processing.Examples of wired communication interfaces may include, but are notlimited to, USB ports, RS232 connectors, RJ45 connectors, Ethernet, andany combination thereof. Examples of wireless communication interfacesmay include, but are not limited to, an Intranet connection, Internet,Bluetooth® technology, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, IEEE 802.11 technology (e.g.,operating at a minimum bandwidth of 54 Mbps, or any other suitablebandwidth), radio frequency (RF), Infrared Data Association (IrDA)compatible protocols, Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks(WAN), Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP), any combination thereof,and other types of wireless networking protocols. The wireless interfacemay be capable of capturing signals that reflect a user's intent. Forexample, the wireless interface may include a microphone that cancapture a user's intent by capturing the user's audible commands.Alternatively, the wireless interface may interact with a device thatmonitors a condition of the user, such as eye movement, brain activity,and/or heart rate.

User interface 126 of marking device 110 may be any mechanism orcombination of mechanisms by which a user may operate data acquisitionsystem 100 and by which information that is generated by dataacquisition system 100 may be presented to the user. For example, userinterface 126 may include, but is not limited to, a display device(including integrated displays and external displays, such as Heads-UpDisplays (HUDs)), a touch screen, one or more manual pushbuttons, amicrophone to provide for audible commands, one or more light-emittingdiode (LED) indicators, one or more toggle switches, a keypad, an audiooutput (e.g., speaker, buzzer, and alarm), and any combination thereof.In one implementation, the user interface 126 includes a “menu/on”button to power up the marking device and provide a menu-drivengraphical user interface (GUI) displayed by the display device (e.g.,menu items and/or icons displayed on the display device) and navigatedby the technician via a joystick or a set of four “up/down/left/right”buttons, as well as a “select/ok” button to take some action pursuant tothe selection of a menu item/icon. As described below, the display mayalso be used in some embodiments of the invention to display informationrelating to a placement of marking material in a dig area, a location ofan underground facility in a dig area, or any other suitable informationthat may be displayed based on information acquired to create anelectronic record 135.

In various embodiments, the one or more interfaces of the marking device110—including the communication interface 124 and user interface 126—maybe used as input devices to receive information to be stored in thememory 122 as part of an electronic record of a marking operation. Insome cases, marking information received via the interface(s) (e.g., viathe communication interface 124) may include ticket informationregarding underground facilities to be marked during a markingoperation. As another example, using an interface such as the userinterface 126, service-related information may be input, including anidentifier for the marking device used by the technician, an identifierfor a technician, and/or an identifier for the technician's employer.Alternatively, some or all of the service-related information similarlymay be received via the communication interface 124 (and likewise someor all of the ticket information may be received via the user interface126).

The actuation system 120 of marking device 110 shown in the blockdiagram of FIG. 2 may include both electrical and mechanical elementsaccording to various embodiments discussed in further detail below, andfor purposes of illustration is shown in FIG. 2 as included as part ofthe control electronics 112. The actuation system 120 may include amechanical and/or electrical actuator mechanism (e.g., see the actuator142 shown in FIG. 3) to provide one or more signals or stimuli as aninput to the actuation system 120. Upon receiving one or more signals orstimuli (e.g., actuation/triggering by a locate technician or otheruser), the actuation system 120 causes marking material to be dispensedfrom marking dispenser 116. In various embodiments, the actuation system120 may employ any of a variety of mechanical and/or electricaltechniques (e.g., one or more switches or other circuit components, adedicated processor or the processor 118 executing instructions, one ormore mechanical elements, various types of transmitters and receivers,or any combination of the foregoing), as would be readily appreciated bythose of skill in the relevant arts, to cause the marking dispenser 116to dispense marking material in response to one or more signals orstimuli. The actuation system 120 also provides one or more outputsignals in the form of an actuation signal 121 to the processor 118 toindicate one or more actuations of the marking device, in response towhich the processor 118 may acquire/collect various marking informationand log data into the electronic record 135. Additional details ofexemplary actuation system implementations are provided below inconnection with FIGS. 3 through 5.

In some embodiments, the actuation system 120 may be configured so asnot to cause marking material to be dispensed from marking dispenser 116in response to one or more signals or stimuli; rather, the actuationsystem may merely facilitate a logging of data from one or more inputdevices in response to operation of an actuator/trigger, withoutnecessarily dispensing marking material. In some instances, this mayfacilitate “simulation” of a marking operation (i.e., simulating thedispensing of marking material) by providing an actuation signal 121 tothe processor 118 indicating one or more simulated actuation events, inresponse to which the processor may cause the logging of various datafor creating an electronic record without any marking material actuallybeing dispensed.

Location tracking system 130 of marking device 110 constitutes anothertype of input device that provides marking information, and may includeany device that can determine its geographical location to a certaindegree of accuracy. For example, location tracking system 130 mayinclude a global positioning system (GPS) receiver or a globalnavigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. A GPS receiver may provide,for example, any standard format data stream, such as a National MarineElectronics Association (NMEA) data stream, or other data formats. Anerror correction component 131 may be, but is not limited to, anymechanism for improving the accuracy of the geographic informationprovided by location tracking system 130; for example, error correctioncomponent 131 may be an algorithm for correcting any offsets (e.g., dueto local disturbances in the atmosphere) in the geo-location data oflocation tracking system 130. While shown as part of a local locationtracking system of the marking device 110, error correction component131 alternatively may reside at a remote computing device, such asremote computer 150. In other embodiments, location tracking system 130may include any device or mechanism that may determine location by anyother means, such as performing triangulation by use of cellularradiotelephone towers.

In one exemplary implementation, the location tracking system 130 mayinclude an ISM300F2-05-V0005 GPS module available from Inventek Systems,LLC of Westford, Mass. (seewww.inventeksys.com/html/ism300f2-c5-v0005.html). The Inventek GPSmodule includes two UARTs (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter)for communication with the processor 118, supports both the SIRF Binaryand NMEA-0183 protocols (depending on firmware selection), and has aninformation update rate of 5 Hz. A variety of geographic locationinformation may be requested by the processor 118 and provided by theGPS module to the processor 118 including, but not limited to, time(coordinated universal time—UTC), date, latitude, north/south indicator,longitude, east/west indicator, number and identification of satellitesused in the position solution, number and identification of GPSsatellites in view and their elevation, azimuth and SNR values, anddilution of precision values. Accordingly, it should be appreciated thatin some implementations the location tracking system 130 may provide awide variety of geographic information as well as timing information(e.g., one or more time stamps) to the processor 118.

In another embodiment, location tracking system 130 may not residelocally on marking device 110. Instead, location tracking system 130 mayreside on any on-site computer, which serves as a location referencepoint, to which the location of marking device 110 may be correlated byany other means, such as, but not limited to, by a triangulationtechnique between the on-site computer and marking device 110.

With respect to other input devices of the marking device 110 that mayprovide marking information, the control electronics 112 may alsoinclude a timing system 128 having an internal clock (not shown), suchas a crystal oscillator device, for processor 118. Additionally, timingsystem 128 may include a mechanism for registering time with a certaindegree of accuracy (e.g., accuracy to the minute, second, ormillisecond) and may also include a mechanism for registering thecalendar date. In various implementations, the timing system 128 may becapable of registering the time and date using its internal clock, oralternatively timing system 128 may receive its time and dateinformation from the location tracking system 130 (e.g., a GPS system)or from an external timing system, such as a remote computer or network,via communication interface 124. In yet other implementations, adedicated timing system for providing timing information to be logged inan electronic record 135 may be optional, and timing information forlogging into an electronic record may be obtained from the locationtracking system 130 (e.g., GPS latitude and longitude coordinates with acorresponding time stamp). Timing information may include, but is notlimited to, a period of time, timestamp information, date, and/orelapsed time.

Marking material detection mechanism 132 of the marking device 110 shownin FIG. 2 is another type of input device that provides markinginformation, and may be any mechanism or mechanisms for determining apresence or absence of a marking dispenser 116 in or otherwise coupledto the marking device 110, as well as determining certainattributes/characteristics of the marking material within markingdispenser 116 when the dispenser is placed in or coupled to the markingdevice. As shown in FIG. 3, in some embodiments the marking materialdetection mechanism 132 may be disposed generally in an area proximateto a marking material holder 140 in which a marking dispenser 116 may beplaced.

For example, in one embodiment, the marking material detection mechanism132 may include one or more switch devices (e.g., a make/break singlepole/single throw contact switch) disposed at one or more points alongthe marking material holder 140 and electrically coupled to theprocessor 118. The switch device(s) may also be coupled to ground or aDC supply voltage, such that when the switch device is in a first state(e.g., closed/making contact) the ground or DC supply voltage is passedto the processor 118 (e.g., via an I/O pin of the processor whichprovides an interrupt to, or is periodically monitored by, theprocessor), and when the switch is in a second state (e.g., open/nocontact) the ground or DC supply voltage is not passed to the processor118. When the marking dispenser 116 is present in the holder 140, theswitch device(s) is in one of two possible states and when there is nomarking dispenser the switch device(s) is in another of the two possiblestates (e.g., the marking dispenser, when present, may depress theswitch device(s) so as to make contact and pass the ground/DC voltage tothe processor). In this manner, the marking material detection mechanism132 may provide a signal to the processor indicating the presence orabsence of the marking dispenser 116 in the marking device 110.

The marking material detection mechanism 132 also or alternatively mayinclude a barcode reader to read barcode data from a dispenser 116and/or a radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader for readinginformation from an RFID tag that is provided on marking dispenser 116.The RFID tag may include, for example, a unique serial number oruniversal product code (UPC) that corresponds to the brand and/or typeof marking material in marking dispenser 116. The type of informationthat may be encoded within the RFID tag on marking dispenser 116 mayinclude product-specific information for the marking material, but anyinformation of interest may be stored on an RFID tag. For example,user-specific information and/or inventory-related information may bestored on each RFID tag for a marking dispenser 116 to facilitateinventory tracking of marking materials. In particular, an identifierfor a technician may be stored on an RFID tag when the technician isprovided with a marking dispenser 116, and information relating toweight, amount dispensed, and/or amount remaining may be written to theRFID tag whenever the marking dispenser is used.

In one exemplary implementation, the marking material detectionmechanism 132 may include a Micro RWD MIFARE-ICODE RFID reader moduleavailable from IB Technology (Eccel Technology Ltd) of Aylesbury,Buckinghamshire, UK (see www.ibtechnology.co.uk/ products/icode.htm).The Micro RWD reader module includes an RS232 communication interface tofacilitate communication between the processor 118 and the reader module(e.g., via messages sent as a string of ASCII characters), and supportsboth reading information from an RFID tag attached to a markingdispenser as well as writing information to an RFID tag attached to themarking dispenser. In one aspect of an exemplary implementation, anantenna constituted by one or more turns of wire (e.g., two turns of awg26 wire, 6.5 cm in diameter, about 1 uH) is coupled to the Micro RWDreader module and disposed in the marking material holder 140 of themarking device 110 (see FIG. 3), proximate to a marking dispenser 116when placed in the holder 140, so as to capture close near field signals(e.g., from an RFID tag on the dispenser, within about 2 inches) andexclude far field signals. In another aspect, the Micro RWD readermodule may be configured to read RFID tags having an ICODE SLI format(e.g., ISO 15693 ICODE SLI). In yet another aspect, an RFID tag may beaffixed to an aerosol paint can serving as the marking dispenser, suchthat the tag conforms to a plastic cap of the paint can and is disposedat a particular location relative to a notch in the cap (e.g., 90degrees+/−15 degrees from the notch) that allows access to the spraynozzle of the can and is in a relatively predictable positionsubstantially aligned with the antenna when the paint can is placed inthe marking material holder 140. Examples of RFID tags suitable for thispurpose are available from BCS Solutions, Inc. (seewww.bcssolutions.com/solutions/rfid) and include, but are not limitedto, the HF Bullseye Wet Inlay SLA Round 40.

In yet other embodiments, marking material detection mechanism 132 mayalternatively or further be configured to detect properties of markingmaterial as it is dispensed. For example, the marking material detectionmechanism may include one or more of an optical sensor, an olfactorysensor, an auditory sensor (e.g., a microphone), a weight sensor, andany combination thereof. For example, in one embodiment an opticalsensor in the marking device may be used to identify the compositionand/or type of marking material in the marking dispenser by analyzinglight reflected by the material as it is dispensed. Similarly, anolfactory sensor may be used to identify one or more characteristics ofthe marking material based on an odor profile of the material, and anauditory sensor may be used to identify the difference between paintbeing sprayed from an aerosol can and aerosol without paint beingsprayed from a can (e.g., as the dispenser becomes emptied of paint).

In one embodiment, information provided by one or more input devices ofthe marking device 110 (e.g., the timing system 128, the locationtracking system 130, the marking material detection mechanism 132, theuser interface 126, the communication interface 124) is acquired andlogged (stored in memory) upon actuation of the actuation system 120(e.g., triggering an actuator). Some embodiments of the invention mayadditionally or alternatively acquire/log information from one or moreinput devices at one or more times during or throughout an actuation,such as when a technician is holding a mechanical or electrical actuatorfor some period of time and moving to dispense marking material in aline (e.g., see FIG. 7). In various aspects of such embodiments, markinginformation derived from one or more input devices may be collected at astart time of an actuation, at one or more times during an actuation,and in some cases at regular intervals during an actuation (e.g.,several times per second, once per second, once every few seconds).Further, some marking information may be collected at an end of anactuation, such as time information that may indicate a duration of anactuation.

Additionally, it should be appreciated that while some markinginformation may be received via one or more input devices at the startof each marking operation and upon successive actuations of the markingdevice, in other cases some marking information may be collected by orprovided to the marking device once, prior to a marking operation (e.g.,on power-up or reset of the marking device, as part of an electronicinstruction or dispatch by a locate company, and/or in response to arequest/query from a locate technician), and stored in local memory 122for later incorporation into an electronic record. For example, prior toa given marking operation and one or more actuations of the markingdevice, ticket information and/or service-related information may havealready been received (e.g., via the communication interface 124 and/oruser interface 126) and stored in local memory 122. Upon generation ofan electronic record of a given marking operation, informationpreviously received via the interface(s) may be retrieved from the localmemory (if stored there initially) and entered into an electronicrecord, in some case together with information collected pursuant to oneor more actuations of the marking device. Alternatively, ticketinformation and/or service-related information may be received via theinterface(s) and stored in an entry in the electronic record 135“directly” in response to one or more actuations of the marking device(e.g., without being first stored in local memory).

In sum, according to embodiments of the present invention, variousmarking information from one or more input devices, regardless of how orwhen it is received, may be stored in an electronic record of a markingoperation, in which at least some of the marking information is loggedpursuant to one or more actuations of the marking device.

In one embodiment, the optional remote computer 150 of the dataacquisition system 100 may be a centralized computer, such as a centralserver of an underground facility locate service provider. In anotherembodiment, remote computer 150 may be a computer that is at or near thework site (i.e., “on-site”), e.g., a computer that is present in alocate technician's vehicle.

Whether resident and/or executed on either the marking device 110 or theremote computer 150, as noted above the marking data algorithm 134includes a set of processor-executable instructions (e.g., stored inmemory, such as local memory 122 of the marking device) that, whenexecuted by processor 118 of the marking device 110 or anotherprocessor, processes information (e.g., various marking information)collected in response to (e.g., during) one or more actuations of themarking device 110, and/or in some cases before or after a givenactuation or series of actuations. As also discussed above, according tovarious embodiments the actuations of marking device 110 may effect bothdispensing marking material and logging of marking information, ormerely logging of marking information for other purposes (e.g.,simulating the dispensing of marking material) without dispensingmarking material. In either situation, marking data algorithm 134, whenexecuted by the processor 118, may cause the processor to performcollection, logging/storage (creation of electronic records), and insome instances further processing and analysis of various markinginformation with respect to marking device actuations. For example, asdiscussed in further detail below in connection with FIG. 9, theoperations of marking data algorithm 134 as effected by the processor118 may include, but are not limited to, the following:

-   -   (1) reading in (acquiring) data that is generated by any        component (e.g., one or more input devices); for example, data        may be read in that is acquired at a start of a given actuation,        throughout the duration of the actuation, at the end of the        actuation, before or after the actuation, and any combination        thereof;    -   (2) processing the information that is collected and associating        the collected information with respective actuations; for        example, any information collected may be parsed/packaged so as        to be associated with any one or more actuations of the marking        device, irrespective of when the data was actually acquired;    -   (3) formatting the acquired information, e.g., as multiple        time-stamped event entries constituting actuation data sets        forming an electronic record, wherein each actuation data set        corresponds to a particular actuation; and    -   (4) using respective actuation data sets of an electronic record        to visually recreate the marking operation (e.g., render a        computer-generated representation in a display field, wherein        respective actuation data sets correspond to electronic locate        marks).

It should also be appreciated that the marking data algorithm 134 mayinclude one or more adjustable parameters that govern various aspects ofthe collection and logging of marking information (e.g., the rate atwhich various marking information is collected from one or more inputdevices), and that these parameters may be adjusted or set, for example,by an administrator at a remote computer, after which the marking dataalgorithm is downloaded to the marking device for execution by theprocessor 118. Alternatively, in other implementations, adjustableparameters of a marking data algorithm already resident on a markingdevice may in some cases be adjusted remotely via the communicationinterface, or locally via the user interface.

While the functionality of various components of the marking device 110was discussed above in connection with FIG. 2, FIG. 3 shows somestructural aspects of the marking device 110 according to oneembodiment. For example, the marking device 110 may include an elongatedhousing 136 in which is disposed one or more elements of the actuationsystem 120, one or more elements of the control electronics 112 and thepower source 114. Elongated housing 136 may be hollow or may containcertain cavities or molded compartments for installing any componentstherein, such as the various components of marking device 110 that areshown in FIG. 2. The elongated housing 136 and other structural elementsassociated with the housing, as discussed below, may be formed of anyrigid, semi-rigid, strong, and lightweight material, such as, but notlimited to, molded plastic and aluminum.

Incorporated at a proximal end of elongated housing 136 may be a handle138, which provides a convenient grip by which the user (e.g., thelocate technician) may carry the marking device 110 during use (i.e.,the exemplary marking device depicted in FIG. 3 is intended to be ahand-held device). In one implementation, the power source 114 may beprovided in the form of a removable battery pack housing one or morerechargeable batteries that are connected in series or parallel in orderto provide a DC voltage to marking device 110, and disposed within acompartment in the handle 138. Such an arrangement facilitates use ofconventional removable/rechargeable battery packs often employed in avariety of cordless power tools, in which the battery pack similarly issituated in a handle of the tool. It should be appreciated, however,that the power source 114 in the form of a battery pack may be disposedin any of a variety of locations within or coupled to the elongatedhousing 136.

As also shown in FIG. 3, mounted near handle 138 is user interface 126,which may include a display 146. The display 146 may be a touch screendisplay to facilitate interaction with a user/technician, and/or theuser interface also may include one or more buttons, switches,joysticks, a keyboard, and the like to facilitate entry of informationby a user/technician. One or more elements of the control electronics112 (e.g., the processor 118, memory 122, communication interface 124,and timing system 128) also may be located in the proximal end of theelongated housing in the vicinity of the user interface 126 and display146. As with the power source 114, it should be appreciated that one ormore elements of the control electronics 112 may be disposed in any of avariety of locations within or coupled to the elongated housing 136.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the location tracking system 130 similarlymay be positioned on the proximal end of the elongated housing 136 tofacilitate substantially unobstructed exposure to the atmosphere; inparticular, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the location tracking system 130may be situated on an a ground plane 133 (providing an electrical groundat least at the antenna frequency of the location tracking system, e.g.,at approximately 1.5 GHz) that extends from the proximal end of thehousing 136 and is approximately parallel to the ground, surface orpavement when the marking device is being normally operated by atechnician (so as to reduce signal modulation with subtle movements ofthe marking device).

As also shown in FIG. 3, incorporated at the distal end of elongatedhousing 136 is a marking dispenser holder 140 for holding one or moremarking dispensers 116 (e.g., an aerosol paint canister). Dispenser 116may be one or more replaceable dispensers or one or more reusablerefillable dispensers (including a fixed reservoir forming a part of thedevice 110) or any other suitable dispenser. Also situated at the distalend of the housing is the marking material detection mechanism 132 todetect a presence or absence of the marking dispenser 116 in the markingmaterial holder 140, and/or one or more characteristics of the markingmaterial 148, as well as an actuation mechanism 158, which in someimplementations may constitute part of the actuation system 120 and beemployed to interact with the marking dispenser 116 so as to effectdispensing of the marking material 148.

With respect to the actuation system 120, as shown in FIG. 3, at least aportion of the actuation system 120 is indicated generally along thelength of the elongated housing for purposes of illustration. Morespecifically, however, in various implementations the actuation system120 may include multiple components disposed in various places in, on orcoupled to the marking device 110. For example, in the embodiment ofFIG. 3, the actuation system 120 includes an actuator 142, which forexample may be a mechanical mechanism provided at the handle 138 in theform of a trigger that is pulled by a finger or hand of anuser/technician. The actuation system 120 further includes the actuationmechanism 158 disposed at the distal end of the marking device that isresponsive to the actuator 142 to dispense marking material. In general,in various exemplary implementations as discussed in further detailbelow, the actuation system 120 may employ any of a variety ofmechanical and/or electrical techniques to cause the marking dispenser116 to dispense marking material 148 in response to one or more signalsor stimuli. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the signal/stimulus isinitially provided to the actuation system via the mechanical actuator142; i.e., a locate technician or other user triggers (e.g.,pulls/depresses) the actuator 142 to provide a signal/stimulus to theactuation system 120, which in turn operates the actuation mechanism 158to dispense marking material in response to the signal/stimulus.

In response to the signal/stimulus provided by the actuator 142, asdiscussed above the actuation system may also provide an actuationsignal 121 to the processor 118 to indicate an actuation. As discussedin further detail below in connection with FIG. 9, pursuant to theexecution by the processor 118 of the marking data algorithm 134, theactuation signal 121 may be used to cause the logging of informationthat is provided by one or more components of the marking device 110 soas to generate an electronic record of the marking operation.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a portion of the actuation system 120according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4A shows theactuator 142 in an un-actuated state, whereas FIG. 4B shows the actuator142 in an actuated state (in which a signal/stimulus is provided by theactuator). In the example of FIGS. 4A and 4B, the actuator 142 iscoupled to a mechanical coupler 152, similar to that shown in FIGS. 1Band 1C, which extends along a length of the elongated housing and is inturn coupled to a mechanical actuation mechanism 158 at the distal endof the housing (not shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B) that ultimately effectsdispensing of marking material when the actuator is in the actuatedstate. The portion of the actuation system 120 shown in FIGS. 4A and 4Balso includes a sensor 160 which is configured to provide an actuationsignal 121 to the processor 118 to indicate one or both of therespective actuated and un-actuated states of the actuator 142.

In one implementation, the sensor 160 may include a switch device (e.g.,a make/break single pole/single throw contact switch) disposed along thehandle 138 of the marking device such that, when pulled, the actuatorcontacts (e.g., depresses) the switch causing a state of the switch totoggle. In another implementation, the sensor 160 may include a switchdevice such as a reed (magnetic) switch disposed at some point along thelength of the elongated housing; in such an implementation, themechanical coupler 152 may have a magnet disposed along it at anappropriate position relative to the reed switch, such that movement ofthe mechanical coupler 152 upon actuation of the actuator 142 causes astate of the reed switch to toggle. Electrically, a switch deviceserving as the sensor 160 may be coupled to ground or a DC supplyvoltage, such that when the switch device is in a first state (e.g.,closed/making contact) the ground or DC supply voltage is passed to theprocessor 118 (e.g., via an I/O pin of the processor which provides aninterrupt to, or is periodically monitored by, the processor), and whenthe switch is in a second state (e.g., open/no contact) the ground or DCsupply voltage is not passed to the processor 118. In this manner, thesensor 160 may provide the actuation signal 121 to the processorindicating actuation (and release) of the actuator 142.

FIG. 5 illustrates various components of an actuation system 120according to other embodiments of the present invention. Generallyspeaking, the actuation system 120 may include the actuator 142 and thesensor 160 to detect actuation and release of the actuator 142 (and alsoprovide a corresponding actuation signal 121 representing same to theprocessor 118). While a “trigger-pull” type of actuator 142 is shownprimarily for purposes of illustration in FIG. 5, it should beappreciated that more generally an actuator of the actuation system 120may be implemented by any form or combination of a lever, switch,program, processor, screen, microphone for capturing audible commands,and the like, as discussed above. For example, in one implementation, amicrophone may serve as both the actuator 142 and the sensor 160 shownin FIG. 5 to provide an actuation signal 121 based on audible commands,so as to effect voice-activated actuation of the marking device.

FIG. 5 also shows that the actuation system 120 of this embodimentincludes a link transmitter 168 coupled and responsive to the sensor 160to transmit one or more signals and/or other stimulus via an actuationlink 164, and a link receiver 162 to receive the one or more signalsand/or other stimulus from the actuation link 164. In response to suchsignals and/or other stimulus, the link receiver 162 operates theactuation mechanism 158. The link transmitter 168, the link 164, and thelink receiver 162 may include one or more electrical and/or mechanicalcomponents. For example, the link receiver 162 may include a linearsolenoid mechanically coupled to the actuation mechanism 158 and whosemovement is responsive to one or more signals and/or stimuli receivedfrom the link 164. In various exemplary implementations, the linktransmitter 168 and the link 164 simply may include a wire that couplesthe sensor 160 to the solenoid to activate the solenoid upon changes ofstate in the actuation signal 121. Alternatively, the transmitter 168may be an RF transmitter that is activated in response to the actuationsignal 121, the link 164 may be a wireless link, and the receiver 162may include an RF receiver.

Other examples of transmitter/link/receiver combinations include, butare not limited to, an acoustic transmitter/link/receiver (e.g., a soundwave source that provides a sound wave of a certain tone, duration,and/or amplitude when the actuator is actuated, and a correspondingsound wave detector), an optical transmitter/link/receiver (e.g., alight or laser source that provides an optical signal of a certainwavelength, duration, and/or amplitude when the actuator is actuated,and a corresponding optical detector), a fluid transmitter/link/receiver(e.g., a fluid system that provides a fluid control output of a certainvolume, pressure, and/or duration when the actuator is actuated, and acorresponding fluid sensor for sensing the presence of, for example, ashort blast of water of a certain volume, pressure, and/or duration toindicate an actuation; the fluid system may be, for example, aclosed-loop system that has a source reservoir at the top of the markingdevice, a fluid line in proximity with the fluid sensor, a returnreservoir for capturing water during the actuation process, andappropriate pressure regulation and ducts for cycling water from thereturn reservoir back to the source reservoir), and an airtransmitter/link/receiver (e.g., an air system that provides an aircontrol output of a certain volume, pressure, and/or duration when theactuator is actuated, and a corresponding air sensor for sensing thepresence of, for example, a blast or puff of air of a certain volume,pressure, and/or duration to indicate an actuation).

While not explicitly shown in FIG. 5, in yet other embodiments it shouldbe appreciated that the sensor 160 may be coupled to the processor 118(to provide the actuation signal 121 representing actuation/release ofthe actuator), and in turn the processor may provide a signal to thelink transmitter 168, such that dispensing of marking material may inpart be under the control of the processor 118 executing particularinstructions for this purpose. More specifically, while in someimplementations dispensing of marking material may be directlyresponsive to actuation of the actuator (and cease upon release of theactuator), in other implementations dispensing of marking material maybe initiated in some manner upon actuation of the actuator, but thencontinued dispensing of marking material may not necessarily be dictatedby continued actuation, or release, of the actuator. Rather, theprocessor 118 may provide one or more signals or commands to the linktransmitter 168 to govern dispensing of marking material in some mannerthat does not necessarily track each actuation and release of theactuator.

For example, in one implementation the processor 118 may executeinstructions such that, once the actuation signal 121 from the sensor160 indicates actuation of the actuator, the processor 118 provides asignal to the link transmitter 168 that causes dispensing of markingmaterial for some predetermined or user-defined amount of time,irrespective of release of the actuator. Additionally or alternatively,the processor may provide one or more signals to the link transmitter168 that causes dispensing of marking material for multiple discreteamounts of time with a single actuation (e.g., three bursts of 1 secondeach per actuation). From the foregoing, it should be generallyappreciated that a wide variety of marker sizes and patterns may begenerated from the marking device in an automated or semi-automatedmanner based on processor-based control of the actuation system 120. Itshould also be appreciated that automated or semi-automatedprocessor-based control of the dispensing of marking material may alsogovern in some fashion how, how often, and/or what type of markinginformation is collected and logged to generate an electronic record ofa marking operation, as discussed further below in connection with FIG.9.

FIGS. 6 and 7 provide examples of how the marking device 110 shown inFIGS. 2 and 3 may be employed by a technician during a markingoperation. Referring now to FIG. 6, a perspective view of marking device110 when in use for marking a “dotting pattern” is presented. In markingoperations, a dotting pattern may be utilized to preliminarily andquickly indicate the presence or absence of a target facility during aninitial locate of a target facility. By way of example, FIG. 6 shows anunderground facility 310, which may be any facility, such as anunderground gas line, water pipe, sewer pipe, power line, telephoneline, cable television conduit, and the like. FIG. 6 also shows adotting pattern 312 that is formed by multiple locate marks 314dispensed via marking device 110. The locate marks 314 of dottingpattern 312 are formed by successive short bursts of marking material(e.g., brief actuations); i.e., each locate mark 314 corresponds to onebrief actuation of the marking device 110.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a perspective view of marking device 110 whenin use for marking a “lines pattern” is presented. In markingoperations, a lines pattern is typically the end product of a markingoperation. This pattern extends the dotting pattern (e.g., dottingpattern 312 of FIG. 6) so as to create lines (e.g., a series of dashes)that indicate the presence or absence of an underground facility. Theselines subsequently provide important reference marks to an excavator soas to avoid damage to a facility during excavation activities or otherdisturbances of the ground. By way of example, FIG. 7 shows undergroundfacility 310, which may be any concealed facility, such as anunderground gas line, water pipe, sewer pipe, power line, telephoneline, cable television conduit, and the like. FIG. 7 also shows a linespattern 412 that is formed by multiple locate marks 414 dispensed viamarking device 110. A characteristic of locate marks 414 of linespattern 412 is that each locate mark 414 is formed by an extended burstof marking material (e.g., a longer actuation of the marking device) ascompared with a dotting pattern. As with the dotting pattern shown inFIG. 6, however, each locate mark 414 of the lines pattern shown in FIG.7 may correspond to one actuation of marking device 110. In somealternative implementations, as discussed above, a series of locatemarks (e.g., all three marks 414) may be automatically generated by oneactuation of marking device 110 pursuant to processor-based control ofthe actuation system.

FIG. 8 illustrates a plan view that shows further details of the linespattern 412 of FIG. 7. In the example of FIG. 8, each locate mark 414-1,414-2, and 414-3 corresponds to one actuation (“act”) of marking device110, i.e., locate mark 414-1 corresponds to act-1, locate mark 414-2corresponds to act-2, and locate mark 414-3 corresponds to act-3.Furthermore, each actuation and its corresponding locate mark 412 has astart time t1, an end time t2, and a duration (Δt). While FIG. 8 showsthree locate marks, it should be appreciated that lines pattern 412 maybe formed by any number of locate marks.

In one embodiment of the present invention for generating an electronicrecord of a marking operation, the processor 118 of the marking device110, executing the marking data algorithm 134, may collect variousmarking information and generate an electronic record having one or more“actuation data sets” respectively associated with one or moreactuations (act-1, act-2, act-3 . . . . act-n) and corresponding locatemarks, as shown in FIG. 8. Marking information may be collected andentered into such an electronic record at various times relative to thestart time t1 and the end time t2 of a given actuation, e.g., at t1only, at t2 only, at both t1 and t2, at any time(s) between t1 and t2,and/or before or after t1 and t2.

Examples of marking information that generally (but not necessarily) isacquired with respect to t1 and t2 of each actuation, and points betweent1 and t2 (“actuation data”), may include, but are not limited to:

-   -   (1) timing information: time and date for one or both of t1 and        t2 (hereinafter also referred to as “time stamp data”), and/or        duration (Δt) of the actuation, which may be provided in some        instances by timing system 128; and    -   (2) geographic information: latitude and longitude data from        location tracking system 130 (hereinafter also referred to as        “geo-location data”) (e.g., GPS data may be expressed in        degrees, minutes, and seconds (i.e., DDD°, MM′, and SS.S″),        degrees and decimal minutes (DDD° and MM.MMM′), or decimal        degrees)) (DDD.DDDDD°.

Examples of marking information that may be acquired before, during orafter a given actuation or succession of actuations, and also enteredinto an electronic record, include, but are not limited to:

-   -   (3) marking material information, such as the presence, color,        brand and/or type of dispensed marking material or a simulated        dispensing of such marking material (i.e., hereinafter also        referred to as “product data”);    -   (4) service-related information: identification (ID) number of        the locate service provider (e.g., a party/company who        dispatches the locate technician, hereinafter also referred to        as “service provider ID”); ID number of the user and/or        technician (hereinafter also referred to as “user ID”); ID        number of the marking device being used for the marking        operation (hereinafter also referred to as “device ID”); and    -   (5) ticket information, such as the requesting party, type of        facility requested to be marked by the requesting party, and        address of the work site/dig area for the marking operation        (hereinafter also referred to as “locate request data”). Ticket        information also may include a variety of text-based information        which may be included in an original locate request ticket,        and/or text-based or other information entered in by a        technician (e.g., via the user interface 126 and/or display 146)        upon initiation of and/or during a marking operation, such as        ground type information (e.g., a description of the ground at        which marking material is dispensed). Thus, ticket information        may be received or derived from a locate request ticket and/or        provided by another source, such as entry by a user/technician.

In exemplary methods for generating an electronic record of markingoperations according to some embodiments of the invention, as discussedin greater detail below, for a given actuation the processor 118 mayrequest the location tracking system 130 to provide geographicinformation at one or more times during the actuation (e.g.,periodically at regular intervals). Thus, an actuation data set of anelectronic record for a given actuation of the marking device may havemultiple pieces of geographic information (and associated time stamps)representing the location of the marking device at multiple times duringa corresponding actuation. Additionally, for a given actuation, theprocessor 118 also may request the marking material detection mechanism132 to provide marking material information as part of the actuationdata set. The processor also may include ticket information andservice-related information, which may be collected (e.g., via one ormore of the user interface 126 and the communication interface 124)before a corresponding actuation, stored in memory 122 and retrievedfrom the memory for entry into the electronic record upon or during thecorresponding actuation, or collected and entered into the electronicrecord upon or during the corresponding actuation.

While the collection and logging of marking information to generate anelectronic record is discussed in some aspects, for purposes ofillustration, in terms of actuation data sets (i.e., a set of data thatis associated and logged with a corresponding actuation of the markingdevice), it should be appreciated that various embodiments of thepresent invention are not limited in this respect. More generally, anelectronic record of a marking operation may be generated in any of avariety of manners, have a variety of file formats and/or datastructures, and include any of a variety of marking information (some ofwhich may be germane to one or more actuations of the marking device andsome of which may be common to multiple actuations or the overallmarking operation in general).

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 600 for collectingmarking information during operation of a marking device 110 andgenerating an electronic record, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. It should be appreciated that as various markinginformation is collected and logged in the process 600, such markinginformation also may be transmitted from the marking device (e.g., toremote computer 150) to facilitate essentially real-time monitoring ofthe marking operation, and/or remote generation of an electronic recordof the marking operation.

In block 602 of the process 600 shown in FIG. 9, ticket informationand/or service-related information may be received (e.g., via one ormore of the user interface 126 and the communication interface 124 ofmarking device 110) and this information optionally may be stored inwhole or in part in local memory 122 of the marking device. The ticketinformation and/or service-related information may be receivedelectronically in any of a variety of formats, and the processor may beconfigured to appropriately parse the information for subsequent entryinto an electronic record.

In some embodiments, the ticket information may be received as part ofan electronic locate request ticket, and individual respective pieces ofticket information (e.g., ticket number, work site address information,requesting party, etc.) may be extracted or derived from the electroniclocate request ticket. In other embodiments, various aspects of ticketinformation may be input by a user/technician via the user interface.

For example, in block 602 the process 600 may provide for the entry ofany of a variety of text information for inclusion in an electronicrecord and/or selection by a user/technician (e.g., via the userinterface) of various information to be included in an electronic recordas part of ticket information (and/or service-related information). Oneexample of such information may relate to a ground type in and aroundthe work site/dig area at which marking material is dispensed as part ofthe marking operation. In some implementations, a text description ofthe ground type may be entered and stored as part of the electronicrecord. In another exemplary implementation, the processor 118 controlsthe user interface 126 (including display 146) so as to displayinformation to the technician to facilitate such a selection. Inparticular, a ground type selection submenu may be displayed, includingone or more categories of ground types displayed in any of a variety ofmanners (e.g., as a list of text entries, an arrangement of iconssymbolizing respective categories, labeled symbols, etc.). Examples ofground type categories that may be displayed in such a submenu include,but are not limited to: 1) “Pavement;” 2) “Grass;” 3) “Rough/Rocky;” 4)“Dirt;” 5) “Gravel/Sand;” and 6) “Other.” More generally, any number andvariety of ground type categories may be presented to the technician viathe user interface in alphabetically ordered lists, numerically orderedlists, or other types of ordered text-based or symbolic arrangements,for example. In yet another exemplary implementation, the user interfacemay include a microphone and the processor may be configured to acceptand process audible commands, such that a ground type category may beaccomplished via voice-activated commands by simply speaking into themicrophone.

Similarly, with respect to service-related information, auser/technician may manually enter some aspects of this information viathe user interface/display, while other aspects may already be availablein other memory locations (e.g., the marking device ID or serial number,a technician ID to which the marking device is assigned or checked-out,etc.) and/or may be received electronically.

While block 602 is illustrated as one element of the process 600, itshould be appreciated that respective pieces of information received asinput in block 602 may be received at different times and via differentinterfaces/sources, and thus may occur at different points in theprocess 600. It should also be appreciated that block 602 is an optionalstep in the process 600, and that more generally a process forcollecting marking information to generate an electronic record need notnecessarily include collection of one or both of ticket information andservice-related information.

In block 604, the locate technician utilizes the user interface 126 toindicate the initiation of a marking operation. For example, thetechnician may press a button, operate a joy-stick, or touch a touchscreen display portion of a graphical user interface to commence amarking operation. In response, a “job initiation signal” is provided tothe processor 118 (e.g., via a switch closure and a ground or DC levelapplied to an I/O pin of the processor, or by the user interfaceproviding a signal to the processor) to initiate generation of anelectronic record. Alternatively, a remote job initiation signal may bereceived by the processor via the communication interface from anotherdevice, such as the remote computer 150.

In response to the job initiation signal, in block 606 the processoropens a file in the memory 122 in which to store the electronic record135, and assigns a file identifier to the opened file. In one example,the file identifier assigned to the opened file may be or include one ormore of a job number (“job ID”) or ticket number derived from the ticketinformation and/or the service-related information, an identifier forthe marking device itself, and an identifier for a remote computerassociated with the marking device (e.g., for either remote controloperation of the device and/or data uploading/downloading). To this end,if ticket information and/or service-related information is notpreviously available (e.g., if no information is received in block 602),the technician optionally may be prompted to manually enter (e.g., via a“wizard” or sequence of dialogues germane to obtaining relevantinformation displayed on the display of the user interface) variouselements of ticket information and/or service-related information fromwhich a file identifier may be derived, or provide other informationthat may be used as a file identifier.

A file opened in block 606 for purposes of storing an electronic recordmay have any of a variety of formats and include any of a variety ofdata structures. In one embodiment, the processor initially opens up a“flat file” for collection and logging of marking information tofacilitate generation of an electronic record. As known in the art, aflat file is a plain text or mixed text/binary file containing one entry(data record) per line, in which each entry may have multiple fieldscontaining respective values, and wherein the respective values may beseparated by delimiters (e.g., commas) or have a fixed length. In oneexemplary implementation, the processor 118 logs data into a flat fileopened for the electronic record as a succession of time stamped “evententries.” Some event entries may be related specifically to actuationand/or logged in response to actuation of the marking device (e.g., theprocessor 118 receiving an actuation signal 121). Other event entriesmay be more generally related in some manner to overall operation of themarking device or the marking operation itself, but not necessarilyassociated with one or more particular actuations (e.g.,start/pause/stop marking operation, power/battery status, communicationlink/network connection status, etc.), and these other event entries maybe logged at virtually any time (in some cases irrespective of one ormore actuations).

Accordingly, it should be appreciated that in one aspect of thisembodiment a flat file for an electronic record may contain a successionof time stamped event entries on respective lines, in which one or moreevent entries may have multiple delimited fields/values and at leastsome of the event entries relate to actuation of the marking device. Inanother aspect, one or more fields/values in a given event entry mayspecifically indicate in some manner whether or not the event isassociated with an actuation of the marking device. In general, an“actuation event entry” constitutes an entry in a file for an electronicrecord that is in some manner specifically related to, and/or logged inresponse to or during, actuation of the marking device, and multipleactuation event entries for a given actuation constitute an actuationdata set for that actuation. Again, it should be appreciated that a filefor an electronic record may include one or more other event entriesthat may not be particularly associated with an actuation.

In other embodiments, the file for an electronic record may or may notbe a flat file, and event entries associated with actuations (actuationevent entries) may be somehow identified and differentiated from otherevent entries that are not associated with an actuation. For example, afile for an electronic record may include a particular data structure orformat that segregates or separates in some manner event entriesassociated with successive actuations from those event entries that arenot particularly associated with actuations (and/or may be common tomultiple actuations or a group of actuations). In yet other embodiments,as discussed below, marking information may be initially collected andlogged in a first file for an electronic record in a first format (e.g.,a flat file including a succession of time-stamped event entries as “rawdata” for the marking operation) that may be stored and/or transmittedfor any of a variety of purposes, and then reformatted and/orreorganized in some manner in one or more subsequent files (e.g., a filehaving a particular data structure that segregates/separatesactuation-related information from other information in differentfields/elements of a data structure) for archiving and/or transmissionto one or more other devices/processors.

Once a file for an electronic record is opened in block 606, in block608 the processor can begin collecting and logging various markinginformation, i.e., logging in the electronic record (and/or transmittingvia the communication interface) actuation event entries and/or otherevent entries. In one exemplary implementation, the processor may beprogrammed so as to poll one or more input devices and/or othercomponents of the marking device to receive information, either once ormultiple times/periodically following the job initiation signal, and logresponses to these polls (“polling events”) as event entries withassociated time stamps. Examples of entries corresponding to pollingevents that may be logged into the file for the electronic record(and/or transmitted) include, but are not limited to, one or more “powerstatus event entries” including power information associated with thepower source 114, one or more “ticket information event entries”including ticket information (e.g., as received from the user interfaceor the communication interface, retrieved from local memory, etc.), oneor more “service-related information event entries” including theservice-related information (e.g., as received from the user interfaceor the communication interface, retrieved from local memory, etc.), andone or more “communication interface event entries” including statusinformation regarding operation of the communication interface (e.g.,network communication available/unavailable).

Additionally or alternatively, the processor may be programmed so as torespond to one or more signals designated as “interrupt events” from oneor more components of the marking device. Such interrupt events causelogging of information in the electronic record (and/or transmission ofinformation) upon/following the processor detecting the correspondingsignal(s). For example, the “job initiation signal” itself mayconstitute an interrupt event, in response to which the processor 118not only opens a file for the electronic record but, once the file isopened, the processor may request timing information from the timingsystem 128 and log into the electronic record a “start job event entry”including a job initiation time stamp associated with receipt of the jobinitiation signal.

In a similar manner, following commencement of a marking operation, thelocate technician may utilize the user interface 126 (e.g., press abutton, operate a joy-stick, or touch a touch screen display portion ofa graphical user interface) to pause, restart, and/or indicatecompletion of the marking operation, and these actions may constituteinterrupt events. For example, as indicated in block 610 of FIG. 9, a“pause signal” may be provided by the user interface to the processor,in response to which the processor may request timing information fromthe timing system and log a “pause job event entry” including a pausejob time stamp associated with the at least one pause signal. When thetechnician is ready to continue, as shown in block 612 of FIG. 9 thetechnician may indicate this via the user interface and a “restart jobevent entry” similarly may be logged. When the marking operation isdeemed by the technician to be completed, as noted in block 614 of FIG.9 the technician may utilize the user interface so as to provide a “stopsignal” to the processor, in response to which the processor may requesttiming information from the timing system and log a “stop job evententry” including a stop job time stamp associated with the stop signal.

Additionally, the locate technician may utilize the user interface 126to denote the beginning and end of a marking operation for a particularfacility type, and these actions may constitute interrupt events. Forexample, upon beginning a marking operation for a given facility type,the technician may select “line start” from the user interface, and acorresponding “line start signal” may be provided by the user interfaceto the processor, in response to which the processor may request timinginformation from the timing system and log a “line start event entry.”Similarly, when the technician wishes to indicate completion of themarking operation for a given facility type, the technician may select“line stop” from the user interface, and a corresponding “line stopsignal” may be provided by the user interface to the processor, inresponse to which the processor may request timing information from thetiming system and log a “line stop even entry.”

While various events are noted above as examples of “polling events” asopposed to “interrupt events,” it should be appreciated that theinvention is not limited in these respects, and that the marking dataalgorithm 134 executed by the processor 118 may be configured in any ofa variety manners to designate various functions performed by and/orinformation provided by various components of the marking device aspolling events or interrupt events. For example, the power source 114may be configured to provide a “low battery signal” to the processor,which when present is treated by the processor as an interrupt eventthat may be logged by the processor and/or that may cause the processorto take some particular action (e.g., provide an audible/visible alert;disable logging of further data, etc.). In one aspect, absent the “lowbattery signal,” the processor may request status information from thepower source once or occasionally as a polling event. Similarly, thecommunication interface 124 may be configured to provide a “no networkconnection available signal” to the processor, which when present istreated by the processor as an interrupt event (that is logged and/orcauses the processor to take some action), and when not present, theprocessor may poll the communication interface to request statusinformation as a polling event.

Another example of an interrupt event is given by the actuation signal121 provided by the actuation system 120 upon actuation of the actuator142 (i.e., a signal change-of-state indicating a transition from anon-actuated state to an actuated state), in response to which theprocessor logs one or more actuation event entries in the electronicrecord. More specifically, in one implementation, the receipt of anon-actuated to actuated transition state of the actuation signal 121 bythe processor may cause an initial actuation event entry to be logged asa “start actuation event entry” having an associated time stamp (i.e., astart time for the corresponding actuation) and also cause the processorto subsequently poll one or more input devices for information duringthe corresponding actuation and until release of the actuator (i.e.,subsequent change of state of the actuation signal 121). In this manner,an actuation data set for a given actuation may include multipleactuation event entries.

For example, during actuation of the actuator, the processor may pollthe location tracking system 130 so as to receive geographicinformation, and in turn log one or more “geo-location data evententries” in the actuation data set for the corresponding actuation. Asdiscussed above in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3, in one exemplaryimplementation the location tracking system is configured to providegeographic information at an information update rate of approximately 5Hz, and the processor may log respective updates of geographicinformation provided by the location tracking system at this update rateduring an actuation as multiple geo-location data event entries of theactuation data set. It should be appreciated, however, that methods andapparatus according to various embodiments of the present invention arenot limited in this respect, and that other geographic informationupdate rates may be employed in various implementations (e.g., updaterates of up to approximately 100 Hz), based in part on the particularlocation tracking system employed. Furthermore, it should be appreciatedthat in some implementations the geographic information provided by thelocation tracking system 130 may include one or more longitudecoordinates, latitude coordinates, and a corresponding geo-location datatime stamp at which a given set of longitude/latitude coordinates areobtained by the location tracking system; accordingly, a givengeo-location data event entry in an actuation data set may include alongitude coordinate, a latitude coordinate, and the correspondinggeo-location data time stamp.

Similarly, in some implementations, pursuant to an interrupt provided bythe actuation signal 121, the processor may subsequently poll one ormore of the timing system 128 and the marking material detectionmechanism 132 so as to receive timing information and/or markingmaterial information during a corresponding actuation, and in turn logone or more of a “timing event entry,” and a “marking material detectionevent entry” as part of the actuation data set. Any of a variety ofmarking material information as discussed above may be collected andlogged during actuation in response to processor polling of the markingmaterial detection mechanism (e.g., causing an RFID tag reader to readvarious information from an RFID tag affixed to the marking dispenser).

Additionally, in some implementations, pursuant to an interrupt providedby the actuation signal 121, the processor may subsequently poll one ormore of the user interface 126, the communication interface 124, and thelocal memory 122 to retrieve ticket information and/or service-relatedinformation for logging into an actuation data set. As discussed above,in some implementations the receipt/retrieval of ticket informationand/or service-related information may be treated as a polling event notnecessarily associated with actuations, and this information need not beincluded in one or more actuation data sets. However, in otherimplementations it may be desirable to include at least some aspect ofticket information and/or service related information in each actuationdata set, notwithstanding the possible redundancy of data content inrespective actuation data sets (e.g., see Table 6, discussed furtherbelow in connection with FIG. 10).

Another example of an interrupt event is given by a change-of-state ofthe actuation signal 121 indicating a transition from the actuated stateto the non-actuated state, i.e., release of the actuator 142. Inresponse to this event, the processor may request information from thetiming system 128 and log an “end actuation event entry” including anend time stamp.

Yet another type of interrupt event causing the processor to log one ormore event entries may be provided by the marking material detectionmechanism 132 in the form of a signal that indicates whether or not amarking dispenser is contained in or appropriately coupled to themarking device. To this end, as discussed above in connection with FIGS.2 and 3, the marking material detection mechanism may include a toggleswitch that provides a two-state signal to the processor (e.g.,dispenser in/dispenser out) as an interrupt. Upon receiving an interruptindicating a transition from “dispenser out” to “dispenser in,” theprocessor may collect and log this event as a “dispenser in event entry”with a corresponding time stamp, and then request other marking materialinformation relating to the marking material in the dispenser from themarking material detection mechanism. In view of the foregoing, itshould be appreciated that in some embodiments, marking materialinformation may not necessarily be collected during one or moreactuations of the marking device, but alternatively may be collectedonly upon a “dispenser in” event being detected. Upon detection of aninterrupt event indicating a transition from “dispenser in” to“dispenser out,” the processor similarly may collect and log this eventas a “dispenser out event entry.”

In yet another embodiment, the processor 118, executing marking dataalgorithm 134, may be configured to repeatedly/regularly poll allavailable input devices and other components of the marking device(e.g., in a predetermined order, in response to receipt of the jobinitiation signal) and generate an essentially continuous stream of datapackets including marking information received pursuant to these pollingevents. In one aspect of this embodiment, each data packet of markinginformation may include a header, one or more flag fields, and one ormore information payload fields. For example, in one implementation, theheader for each packet may include one or more of a job ID (e.g., ticketidentifier), technician ID, device ID (e.g., serial number), packet typeID, and/or a time stamp corresponding to logging ofinformation/generation of the packet. Each packet also may include oneor more payload fields for carrying information provided by the polleddevice(s) or components, and one or more flag fields that are set (orreset) upon occurrence of one or more predetermined interrupt events(e.g., pull/depress actuator, release actuator, marking dispenser in,marking dispenser out, low power, communication link fail, etc.). Inthis manner, a continuous stream of data may be provided as an output bythe processor, in which certain interrupt events, such as an actuationand/or release of the actuator, “tag” certain data packets via aninterrupt flag. In yet other aspects of this embodiment, all datapackets thusly generated may be stored in the file opened for theelectronic record and/or transmitted from the marking device inessentially real time; alternatively, only certain data packets with oneor more predetermined flags set may be stored and/or transmitted.

Table 1 below illustrates an example of a portion of the contents of arelatively simple flat file for an electronic record that may begenerated by the process 600 of FIG. 9:

TABLE 1 MARKER TIME LAT LONG EVENT COLOR 1:23:00.00 PM −80.3851 25.5604Spraying ORANGE 1:23:00.20 PM −80.3851 25.5604 Spraying ORANGE1:23:00.40 PM −80.3851 25.5604 Spraying ORANGE 1:23:00.60 PM −80.385125.5604 Spraying ORANGE 1:23.00.80 PM −80.3851 25.5604 Spraying ORANGE1:23:01.00 PM −80.3851 25.5604 Spraying ORANGE 1:23:01.20 PM −80.385125.5604 Spraying ORANGE 1:23:01.40 PM −80.3851 25.56039 Spraying ORANGE1:23:01.60 PM −80.3851 25.56039 Spraying ORANGE 1:23:01.80 PM −80.385125.5604 Spraying ORANGE 1:23:02.00 PM −80.3851 25.5604 Spraying ORANGEThe portion of the file shown in Table 1 corresponds to multipleactuation event entries (one entry per line) collected and logged duringan actuation of the marking device. Each entry has a time stamp (e.g.,entries are logged at a rate of approximately five events per second)and further includes multiple fields having respective values (e.g., ascomma separated values) for latitude and longitude coordinates receivedfrom the location tracking device, an event indicator indicating thatthe device is “Spraying” (the actuator is actuated), and a color of themarking material being dispensed.

As noted above, it should be appreciated that the portion of the fileshown in Table 1 is provided primarily for purposes of illustration, andthat the format and/or content for respective event entries and the fileitself for an electronic record generated by and/or based on theinformation collection process discussed above in connection with FIG. 9may have any of a variety of different formats and/or content.

To this point, Tables 2 through 5 below provide examples of variousevents for which event entries may be logged in a file for an electronicrecord and/or transmitted by the marking device, exemplary formats forthese event entries, and exemplary file formats for files havingmultiple such entries, according to another embodiment of the presentinvention.

Job Started/Paused/Restarted/Completed Events:

This event entry format provides information about when a markingoperation (“job”) was started and completed in addition to capturingdetails about if and when the job was paused and restarted.

TABLE 2 Format INFO+JOBS: (DATE) (TIME) (WAND_ID) (JOB_ID) (STATE)<CR><LF> Examples INFO+JOBS: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:03:44) WAND(2334)JOB(4000) (STARTED) <CR> <LF> INFO+JOBS: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:11:44)WAND(2334) JOB(4000) (PAUSED) <CR> <LF> INFO+JOBS: DATE(2009-04-15)TIME(12:51:44) WAND(2334) JOB(4000) (RESTARTED) <CR> <LF> INFO+JOBS:DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(13:09:44) WAND(2334) JOB(4000) (END) <CR> <LF>

Actuation State Change Events:

For purposes of this event format, the actuator is deemed to have threepossible states, i.e., PRESSED, HELD and RELEASED. Marking informationfrom one or more input devices/other components of the marking device isrecorded with these events to provide information about the job inprogress.

TABLE 3 Format INFO+ WPTR: (DATE) (TIME) (GPS data) (PAINT info)(TRIGGER SWITCH STATE) <CR><LF> Examples INFO+WPTR: DATE(2009-04-15)TIME(12:04:44) GPS($GPGGA, 120443, 4807.038, N, 01131.000, E, 1, 08,0.9, 545.4, M, 46.9, M,, *47) CLR(RED) SWCH(PRESSED)<CR><LF> INFO+WPTR:DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:45) GPS($GPGGA, 120445, 4807.038, N,01131.000, E, 1, 08, 0.9, 545.4, M, 46.9, M,, *47) CLR(RED)SWCH(HELD)<CR><LF> INFO+WPTR: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:46)GPS($GPGGA, 120446, 4807.038, N, 01131.000, E, 1, 08, 0.9, 545.4, M,46.9, M,, *47) CLR(RED) SWCH(RELEASED)<CR><LF>

Marking Device Status Events:

The status event collects various marking information and/or informationon operating characteristics of the device on a periodic basis while ajob is in progress (e.g., pursuant to processor polls).

TABLE 4 Format INFO+STAT: (DATE) (TIME) (GPS data) (PAINT status)(MEMORY used in %) (BATTERY level) <CR><LF> Examples INFO+STAT:DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:00) GPS($GPGGA, 120400, 4807.038, N,01131.000, E, 1, 08, 0.9, 545.4, M, 46.9, M,, *47) CLR(RED) MEM(65)BAT(3)<CR><LF>

Error Events:

Should any input device or other component of the marking deviceencounter a significant error condition, this may be logged as an event.In some cases, the user/technician also may be notified of the errorthrough the user interface 126 (visible alert on display, audiblealarm/alert, etc.). Similar event formats may be adopted for warningalerts/events and informational alerts/events.

TABLE 5 Format INFO+ERR: (DATE) (TIME) (GPS data) (PAINT status) (MEMORYused in %) (BATTERY level) <CR><LF> Examples INFO+ERR: DATE(2009-04-15)TIME(12:04:00) GPS($GPGGA, 120400, 4807.038, N, 01131.000, E, 1, 08,0.9, 545.4, M, 46.9, M,, *47) CLR(RED) MEM(65) BAT(3)<CR><LF>

With respect to file formats for electronic records including the evententries outlined above in Tables 2 through 5, two exemplary fileformats, namely ASCII and XML, are provided below for purposes ofillustration. In various implementations, a given marking device may beparticularly configured to store and/or transmit electronic records andrespective entries therein in either format (or other formats). Withrespect to identification of files/electronic records, a standard namingscheme/format may be adopted, for example, including an identifier forthe remote computer with which the marking device may be communicating(“ServerID”), an identifier for the marking device itself (“WandID”),and an identifier for the marking operation/job (“JobID”), and havingthe format “ServerID_WandID_Job ID.”

ASCII Data Format:

This format allows low-level remote processing engines to quickly andeasily receive, parse, and react to marking information logged and/ortransmitted by the marking device. An example of an electronic recordformatted in ASCII based on the event entries outlined in Tables 2through 5 is as follows:

INFO+JOBS: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:03:44) WAND(2334) JOB(4000)(STARTED) <CR> <LF> INFO+STAT: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:00)GPS($GPGGA,120400,4807.038,N,01131.000,E,1,08,0.9,545.4, M,46.9,M,,*47)CLR(RED) MEM(65) BAT(3)<CR><LF> INFO+WPTR: DATE(2009-04-15)TIME(12:04:44) GPS($GPGGA,120443,4807.038,N,01131.000,E,1,08,0.9,545.4,M,46.9,M,,*47) CLR(RED) SWCH(PRESSED)<CR><LF> INFO+WPTR:DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:45)GPS($GPGGA,120445,4807.038,N,01131.000,E,1,08,0.9,545.4, M,46.9,M,,*47)CLR(RED) SWCH(HELD)<CR><LF> INFO+WPTR: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:46)GPS($GPGGA,120446,4807.038,N,01131.000,E,1,08,0.9,545.4, M,46.9,M,,*47)CLR(RED) SWCH(RELEASED)<CR><LF> INFO+STAT: DATE(2009-04-15)TIME(12:05:00) GPS($GPGGA,120500,4807.038,N,01131.000,E,1,08,0.9,545.4,M,46.9,M,,*47) CLR(RED) BAT(3)<CR><LF> INFO+JOBS: DATE(2009-04-15)TIME(12:10:03) WAND(2334) JOB(4000) (PAUSED)<CR> <LF> INFO+JOBS:DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(13:01:43) WAND(2334) JOB(4000) (RESTARTED)<CR><LF> INFO+WPTR: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(13:01:50)GPS($GPGGA,130150,4807.038,N,01131.000,E,1,08,0.9,545.4, M,46.9,M,,*47)CLR(RED) SWCH(PRESSED)<CR><LF> INFO+WPTR: DATE(2009-04-15)TIME(13:01:51) GPS($GPGGA,130151,4807.038,N,01131.000,E,1,08,0.9,545.4,M,46.9,M,,*47) CLR(RED) SWCH(RELEASED)<CR><LF> INFO+JOBS:DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(13:20:30) WAND(2334) JOB(4000) (END)<CR> <LF>

XML Data Format:

This format allows transmission of self-describing data elements fromthe marking device, in some instances reducing processing errors andreducing the risks and effort involved in upgrades and data changes. Anexample of an electronic record formatted in XML based on the evententries outlined in Tables 2 through 5 is as follows:

<WAND ID=2334> <JOB ID=4000> <ACTIVITY> <DATE>2009-04-15</DATE><TIME>12:03:44</TIME> <STATUS>Started</STATUS>  </ACTIVITY>  <ACTIVITY> <DATE>2009-04-15</DATE>  <TIME>12:04:00</TIME>  <GPS>($GPGGA,120400,4807.038,N,01131.000,E,1,08,0.9,545.4,M,46.9,M,,*47</GPS> <PAINT>  <COLOR>Red</COLOR>  <VALID>True</VALID> <SN>2342343243355</SN> </PAINT>  <SWITCH>Pressed</SWITCH> </ACTIVITY> </JOB> </WAND>

Yet another alternative format for storing and organizing markinginformation in an electronic record of a marking operation, according toone embodiment of the invention, is shown in Table 6 below. By way ofexample, Table 6 shows the format and content of three actuation datasets of an electronic record of a marking operation for a givenfacility, in which each actuation data set includes informationassociated with multiple actuation event entries logged during acorresponding actuation and resulting locate mark (e.g., act-1, act-2,and act-3), as shown for example in FIG. 8. As discussed above, itshould be appreciated that the format and content shown below in Table 6may constitute an “original” electronic record generated by theprocessor pursuant to the process 600 shown in FIG. 9, or may be derivedfrom raw data collected and logged pursuant to the process 600 (e.g., asa flat file, an ASCII formatted file, or an XML formatted file) andsubsequently reorganized and particularly formatted.

TABLE 6 Example actuation data set for act-1 act-1 Service provider ID0482 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 T1 timestamp data 12-Jul-2008;09:35:15.2 T2 timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:16.1 Duration (Δt)00:00:00.9 T1 geo-location data 2650.9348, N, 08003.5057, W 1^(st)interval location data 2650.9353, N, 08003.5055, W 2^(nd) intervallocation 2650.9356, N, 08003.5055, W data . . . . . . Nth intervallocation 2650.9246, N, 08003.5240, W data T2 geo-location data2650.9255, N, 08003.5236, W Product data Color = Red, Brand = ABC,Type/Batch = 224B-1 Ground Type Grass Other info (text entry) “thick andwet at time of marking” Locate request data Requestor: XYZ ConstructionCompany, Requested service address: 222 Main St, Orlando, FL Exampleactuation data set for act-2 act-2 Service provider ID 0482 User ID 4815Device ID 7362 T1 timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:17.5 T2 timestampdata 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:18.7 Duration (Δt) 00:00:01.2 T1 geo-locationdata 2650.9256, N, 08003.5234, W 1st interval location data 2650.9256,N, 08003.5226, W 2^(nd) interval location 2650.9256, N, 08003.5217, Wdata . . . . . . Nth interval location 2650.9260, N, 08003.5199, W dataT2 geo-location data 2650.9266, N, 08003.5196, W Product data Color =Red, Brand = ABC, Type/Batch = 224B-1 Ground Type Grass Other info (textentry) “thick and wet at time of marking” Locate request data Requestor:XYZ Construction Company, Requested service address: 222 Main St,Orlando, FL Example actuation data set for act-3 act-3 Service providerID 0482 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 T1 timestamp data 12-Jul-2008;09:35:18.7 T2 timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:19.8 duration (Δt)00:00:01.1 T1 geo-location data 2650.9273, N, 08003.5193, W 1st intervallocation data 2650.9281, N, 08003.5190, W 2^(nd) interval location2650.9288, N, 08003.5188, W data . . . . . . Nth interval location2650.9321, N, 08003.5177, W data T2 geo-location data 2650.9325, N,08003.5176, W Product data Color = Red, Brand = ABC, Type/Batch = 224B-1Ground Type Grass Other info (text entry) “thick and wet at time ofmarking” Locate request data Requestor: XYZ Construction Company,Requested service address: 222 Main St, Orlando, FL

In addition to the information shown in Table 6, a job ID or some otheridentifier for the electronic record as a whole (e.g., a ticket number),as well as a total number of actuations for a given marking operation(e.g., the total number of actuation data sets in a given electronicrecord in this embodiment), may be included in the electronic record.

With regard to color information that may be included in any of theevent entries and electronic records discussed herein, Table 7 belowshows an example of the correlation of marking material color to thetype of facility to be marked.

TABLE 7 Correlation of color to facility type Marking material colorFacility Type Red Electric power lines, cables or conduits, and lightingcables Yellow Gas, oil, steam, petroleum, or other hazardous liquid orgaseous materials Orange Communications, cable television, alarm orsignal lines, cables, or conduits Blue Water, irrigation, and slurrylines Green Sewers, storm sewer facilities, or other drain lines WhiteProposed excavation Pink Temporary survey markings Purple Reclaimedwater, irrigation, and slurry lines Black Mark-out for errant lines

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary data structure for an electronic record135, according to another embodiment of the present invention, that maybe generated by and/or based on information collected during the process600 discussed above in connection with FIG. 9 and based on theorganization of information shown in Table 6 above. As shown in FIG. 10,the record 135 includes a file identifier 701 (e.g., one or more of JobID, WandID, ServerID, etc.) and a plurality of actuation data sets 1through N (with reference numbers 702A, 702B, 702C . . . 702N), whereineach actuation data set is associated with a corresponding actuation ofa marking device. For purposes of the following discussion, FIG. 10shows additional details of the data structure for actuation data set 3702C, showing several fields in which data (e.g., actuation evententries) may be entered to constitute the actuation data set. While onlythe exemplary details of the data structure of actuation data set 3 areshown in the electronic record 135 of FIG. 10, it should be appreciatedthat multiple actuation data sets of the electronic record 135 may havethe same data structure as that shown for actuation data set 3 in FIG.10.

The data structure of the actuation data set 3 702C of the electronicrecord 135 shown in FIG. 10 includes a start location field 704(corresponding to T1 geo-location data shown in Table 2), an endlocation field 713 (corresponding to T2 geo-location data shown in Table2), a start time field 706 (corresponding to T1 timestamp data shown inTable 2), an end time field 708 (corresponding to T2 timestamp datashown in Table 2) and a duration field 709 (corresponding to theduration Δt shown in Table 2). Additionally, the data structure forentry 3 702C includes one or more fields 712A, 712B, . . . 712N forintermediate location data (corresponding to 1^(st) interval locationdata, 2^(nd) interval location data . . . Nth interval location datashown in Table 2). Finally, the data structure for the entry 3 702C mayinclude one or more ticket information fields 714 (e.g., correspondingto Locate request data in Table 2) and one or more service-relatedinformation fields 716 (e.g., corresponding to Service provider ID, UserID, and Device ID in Table 2).

In addition to one or more actuation data sets corresponding toactuations of a marking device, the electronic record 135 shown in FIG.10 may include one or more additional elements. For example, FIG. 10shows an additional element 718 of the electronic record to store thetotal number of entries in the record. Furthermore, according to anotherembodiment, various other information that may be common to multiple (orall) actuation data sets of a given electronic record may be stored inone or more additional elements of the electronic record that are notcontained within one or more of the actuation data sets themselves. Forexample, in one alternative implementation, one or more of the ticketinformation field 714, the service-related information field 716, andthe marking material properties field 710, which are shown as part ofthe data structure for a given actuation data set of the electronicrecord, may instead be elements of the electronic record that are notincluded within any one actuation data set (e.g., the informationcontained in one or more of the ticket information field and theservice-related information field may be common to all actuation datasets of a given electronic record).

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the marking device110 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 may be configured (e.g., via particularinstructions included in the marking data algorithm 134 executing on theprocessor 118, and/or various hardware modifications) to operate inmultiple different modes so as to collect various information relatingnot only to a marking operation itself (marking information), butadditionally (or alternatively) various information relating to the worksite/dig area in which the marking operation is performed. For example,in one implementation, the marking device may be configured to operatein a first “marking mode” which essentially follows various aspects ofthe process outlined in FIG. 9, and also operate in a second “landmarkidentification mode” (or more simply “landmark mode”), in which themarking device acquires information relating to one or moreenvironmental landmarks that may be germane to the marking operation(e.g., in and around the work site/dig area and/or generally in thevicinity of the marking operation).

More specifically, in a “marking mode,” marking material may bedispensed with respective actuations of the marking device and variousinformation transmitted and/or stored in an electronic record attendantto this process, as discussed above. Alternatively, in a “landmarkmode,” marking material is not necessarily dispensed with an actuationof the marking device (and in some instances the dispensing of markingmaterial is specifically precluded); instead, a technician positions themarking device proximate to an environmental landmark of interest and,upon actuation, the marking device collects various information aboutthe landmark (hereafter referred to as “landmark information”), whichinformation may include, but is not limited to, geo-location data of anenvironmental landmark, type of environmental landmark, and a time stampfor any acquired information relating to an environmental landmark.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are similar to FIGS. 4A and 4B, and conceptuallyillustrate a portion of an actuation system 120 including a mechanicalcoupler 152, in which the marking device 110 has been modified toinclude a mode selector device so as to accommodate a landmark mode,according to one embodiment of the present invention. In a mannersimilar to that shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, FIG. 11A shows the actuator142 in an un-actuated state, whereas FIG. 11B shows the actuator 142 inan actuated state. In the embodiment of FIGS. 11A and 11B, themodifications are such that, in the landmark mode, the marking device isprecluded from dispensing markers or marking material, even though theactuator 142 may be actuated by a user.

More specifically, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, in this embodiment themarking device 110 further includes a mode selector device in the formof a bypass device 145 that is operated so as to impact and deflect themechanical coupler 152 of the actuation system 120, such that themechanical coupler 152 fails to cause the dispensing of a markingmaterial upon actuation of the actuator 142. In FIG. 11A, the bypassdevice is shown in a first state (e.g., released) which allows themarking device to operate in marking mode as described above (i.e., themechanical coupler is allowed to be displaced essentially verticallywith actuation of the actuator 142 and thereby dispense markers). InFIG. 11B, the bypass device is shown in a second state (e.g., depressed)which allows the marking device to operate in landmark mode; inparticular, the mechanical coupler 152 is deflected by the bypass devicesuch that upon actuation of the actuator 142, the mechanical coupler 152is not displaced vertically. In one example, with reference again toFIGS. 1C and 11B, when the mechanical coupler 152 is deflected by thebypass device 145, actuations of the actuator 142 do not effect fullessentially up/down vertical movement of the mechanical coupler 152; asa result, the mechanical coupler fails to displace the actuationmechanism, and no pressure is applied to the spray nozzle of a paintdispenser (or dispensing mechanism of other types of marker dispensers).At the same time, however, actuation of the actuator 142 nonethelessprovides an actuation signal 121 to the processor 118 (which may providefor logging of an actuation event entry as discussed above).

In various implementations, the bypass device 145 may be a lockingand/or spring-loaded switching device (e.g., a press/release lockingthumb switch) appropriately positioned along the housing of the markingdevice (e.g., near or on the handle), wherein the bypass device providesfor both deflection of the mechanical coupler as well as opening/closureof electrical contacts so as to provide a mode signal 147 to theprocessor 118. For example, as shown in FIG. 11A, the first state(released) of the bypass device 145 may include an open contact stateand no deflection of the mechanical coupler, whereas the second stateshown in FIG. 11B (depressed) may include a closed contact state (e.g.,in which the mode signal 147 is provided to the processor 118 as aninterrupt event to indicate “landmark mode”) when the bypass devicedeflects the mechanical coupler 152.

In response to the mode signal 147 indicating landmark mode, theprocessor 118 may request timing information from the timing system andlog into an electronic record a “landmark mode event entry” including alandmark mode time stamp associated with the landmark mode signal.Additionally, or alternatively, the processor may respond to thelandmark mode signal by taking one or more other actions pursuant toexecution of a portion of the marking data algorithm 134 includingparticular instructions to implement the landmark mode, such asproviding for the selection of landmark categories and/or types (via theuser interface 126 and menus provided on the display 146), and loggingactuation event entries in an electronic record as “landmark evententries.” Further details of landmark mode operation of the markingdevice are discussed below in connection with FIG. 12.

In another exemplary implementation, rather than employing the bypassdevice 145 shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B as a mode selector device, amarking device configured to implement a landmark mode in which nomarker or marking material is dispensed may be modified to include anactuator locking device as a mode selector device to prevent operationof the actuator 142. In essence, such a device would function in amanner similar to a “trigger lock.” Like the bypass device, the actuatorlocking device or “trigger lock” may not only mechanically impedeoperation of the actuator, but also include electrical switch contacts(opened/closed) so as to provide a mode signal to the processor toindicate a landmark mode when the actuator locking device is engaged toimpede actuation. Because such an actuator locking device impedesoperation of the actuator, the actuator itself cannot be employed toprovide an actuation signal 121 to the processor to facilitate thelogging into an electronic record of actuation event entries as“landmark event entries.” Accordingly, in implementations involving anactuator locking device, another aspect of the user interface (e.g., abutton, switch, portion of the touch screen display, microphone toprovide for voice-activation, etc.) is employed to provide a signal tothe processor 118 to facilitate logging of an event (e.g., a “landmarkevent”) by the technician. Further details of logging of landmark eventsare discussed below in connection with FIG. 12.

Yet another exemplary implementation of a marking device modified tooperate in landmark mode is based on the general implementation of anactuation system 120 shown in FIG. 5, in which the landmark mode isselected via the user interface 126 and/or display 146 (e.g.,menu-driven GUI) rather than via a bypass device or actuator lockingdevice; i.e., some functionality of the user interface itself providesfor a mode selector device. With reference again to FIG. 5, dispensingof marking material in this implementation is controlled by a linktransmitter 168. As discussed above in connection with FIG. 5, the linktransmitter 168 may be responsive to the actuation signal 121 providedby sensor 160 with operation of the actuator 142, for example, oralternatively responsive to a signal provided by the processor 118 (suchthat dispensing of marking material may in part be under the control ofthe processor 118 executing particular instructions for this purpose).Accordingly, in this implementation, when a landmark mode is selectedvia the user interface 126, the marking device may be configured toeither dispense marking material (by not impeding any control signals tothe link transmitter 168) (e.g., so as to form one or more “landmarklocate marks” on or near a target environmental landmark), or not todispense marking material (by impeding control signals to the linktransmitter 168 or otherwise controlling the link transmitter to notdispense marking material). In either case, the actuation signal 121output by sensor 160 may nonetheless be provided to the processor 118 soas to facilitate logging of an actuation event entry upon actuation ofthe actuator 142, which in landmark mode may be designated as a“landmark event entry,” as discussed further below in connection withFIG. 12.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process 1200, according to oneembodiment of the present invention, for operating a marking devicehaving a marking mode and a landmark mode so as to collect markinginformation and/or environmental landmark information during operationof the marking device, and generate an electronic record of suchinformation. Several aspects of the process 1200 shown in FIG. 12 aresubstantially similar or identical to those discussed above inconnection with FIG. 9; in particular, blocks 602 through 614 are thesame in both FIGS. 9 and 12, and the blocks 616, 618, and 620 in FIG. 12are additional aspects of the process 1200.

In the process 1200 outlined in FIG. 12, following commencement of amarking operation the locate technician may utilize the user interface126 (e.g., press a button, operate a joy-stick, touch a touch screendisplay portion of a graphical user interface, speak into a microphoneto provide a voice-activated command, etc.) to not only pause, restart,and/or indicate completion of the marking operation, but further toselect a landmark mode of operation for the marking device. As notedabove in the discussion of FIG. 9, any one or more of these actions mayconstitute interrupt events. For example, as indicated in block 616 ofFIG. 12, if a technician selects “landmark mode” via the user interface,the user interface may provide a “landmark mode signal” to theprocessor. In response to this signal, the processor may request timinginformation from the timing system and log a “landmark mode event entry”including a landmark mode time stamp associated with the landmark modesignal. Additionally, or alternatively, the processor may respond to thelandmark mode signal by taking one or more other actions pursuant toexecution of a portion of the marking data algorithm 134 includingparticular instructions to implement the landmark mode (as discussedabove, the landmark mode may be entered in alternative implementationsvia a mode signal provided to the processor 118 by a bypass device or anactuator locking device serving as a mode selector device).

Table 8 below provides an example of content and format for a modeselect event entry that may be logged in a file for an electronic recordand/or transmitted by the marking device. The example mode select evententry shown below in Table 8 follows a similar format to that used forthe event entry examples provided in Tables 2-5 above.

TABLE 8 Format INFO+MODE: (DATE) (TIME) (WAND_ID) (JOB_ID) (MODE)<CR><LF> Examples INFO+MODE: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:03:44) WAND(2334)JOB(4000) (LANDMARK) <CR> <LF>

In the process outlined in FIG. 12, subsequent to selection of thelandmark mode, as noted in block 618 the process may provide for theselection of a particular category and/or type of landmark for whichinformation is to be collected. To this end, in one implementation theprocessor 118 controls the user interface 126 (including display 146) soas to display information to the technician to facilitate such aselection. In particular, a landmark selection submenu may be displayed,including one or more categories of landmarks displayed in any of avariety of manners (e.g., as a list of text entries, an arrangement oficons symbolizing respective categories, labeled symbols, etc.).Examples of landmark categories that may be displayed in such a submenuinclude, but are not limited to: 1) “Natural Gas;” 2) “Water/Sewer;” 3)“Power Line;” 4) “Phone Line;” 5) “CATV Line;” and 6) “Other.”

Upon selection via the user interface of one of the landmark categoriesdisplayed on the submenu, the processor may control the user interfaceso as to display yet another submenu indicating various types oflandmarks that fall within the selected category, so as to facilitateselection of a particular type of landmark for which information is tobe collected.

Examples of types of landmarks that may be displayed and available forselection via the user interface, for each of the above identifiedcategories, include, but are not limited to:

-   -   Natural Gas: 1) Service Meter; 2) Manifold; 3) Test Station; 4)        Regulator Station; 5) Vent/Vent stack; 6) Valve; 7) Trace        Wire; 8) Anode; 9) Branch Service; 10) Capped Service; 11)        Compressor Station; 12) Farm Tap; 13) Service Regulator; 14)        Service Line; 15) Service Riser; 16) Shut Off Valve; 17)        Tee; 18) Valve Box; 19) Transmission Pipeline; 20)        Main/Distribution Main; 21) Offset; 22) Low Pressure; 23) Medium        Pressure; 24) High Pressure    -   Water/Sewer: 1) Transmission Main; 2) Water Main; 3) Manhole; 4)        Valve; 5) Clean out; 6) Sewer Lateral; 7) Water Meter; 8) Storm        Sewer 9) Sanitary Sewer; 10) Pump Station; 11) Tap; 12)        Faucet; 13) Fire Hydrant; 14) Tracer Wire    -   Power Line: 1) Pole; 2) Anchor; 3) Transformer; 4) Manhole; 5)        Handhole; 6) Street light; 7) Electrical Riser; 8) Primary; 9)        Secondary; 10) Switch; 11) Fused Switch; 12) Circuit        Breaker; 13) Duct; 14) Power Plant; 15) Transmission        Substation; 16) Power Substation; 17) Service Line; 18)        Meter; 19) Pedestal; 20) Switch Gear; 21) Switch Cabinet; 22)        Buried Transformer; 23) Riser; 24) Red Top Tracer    -   Phone Line: 1) Pole; 2) Anchor; 3) Manhole; 4) Handhole; 5)        Subscriber Line Carrier; 6) Digital Loop Carrier; 7) Remote        Terminal; 8) Cross Box; 9) Continual environment Vault; 10)        Fiber Optics; 11) Encapsulated Plant; 12) Building Terminal; 13)        Terminal; 14) Aerial; 15) Buried; 16) Underground; 17) Duct        Run; 18) Central Office; 19) Buried Joint; 20) Splice    -   CATV Line: 1) Pole; 2) Anchor; 3) Headend; 4) Manhole; 5)        Handhole; 6) Transmitter; 7) Fiber Transmitter; 8) Receiver; 9)        Fiber Receiver; 10) HUB Location; 11) Power Supply/Inserter; 12)        Fiber Node; 13) Amplifier; 14) Ped; 15) Dog House; 16)        Subscriber Service Line; 17) Trunk Station; 18) Trunk Line        Amplifier; 19) AC Power Supply Pedestal    -   Other: various natural, architectural, or infrastructure-related        landmarks, such as buildings, curbs, “tagged” curbs        (intentionally marked curbs that are likely to survive        excavation, to serve as points of reference to validate marking        operations), streets, driveways, property boundaries, trees and        other landscape elements, termination points of abandoned        facilities, etc.

While the foregoing discussion of landmark categories and types providesone construct in which a wide variety of landmarks are made availablefor selection by the technician, it should be appreciated that in otherimplementations, options for landmark selection may be presented indifferent manners. For example, a more succinct list of landmark typesmay be presented to the technician to facilitate easy selection (e.g., amore limited set of about a dozen more common landmark types that mightbe encountered in the field, such as “telephone pole,” “fire hydrant,”“meter,” “manhole,” “curb,” etc.). More generally, any number andvariety of landmark types may be presented to the technician via theuser interface in alphabetically ordered lists, numerically orderedlists, or other types of ordered text-based or symbolic arrangements,for example.

In another exemplary implementation, the categories and/or types oflandmarks made available for selection via the user interface may bebased at least in part on a type of facility being marked when themarking device was in a marking mode prior to selection of the landmarkmode. For example, consider a technician using the marking device in themarking mode and in the process of marking a power line. In oneimplementation, upon switching to landmark mode, the user is firstpresented with selection options for landmark category and/or type thatare more closely related to a power line (e.g., a more limited subset ofoption types including “pole,” “transformer,” “pedestal,” etc.). In oneaspect, the technician may nonetheless still have the option to selectother categories and/or types of landmarks, but as a default thetechnician is first presented with options related to the type offacility last being marked. In another aspect, the selection options forlandmark category and/or type may be specifically and intentionallylimited to those options that are most germane to the type of facilitylast being marked in the previous marking mode (i.e., immediately priorto entry into the landmark mode).

In yet another exemplary implementation, the user interface may includea microphone and the processor may be configured to accept and processaudible commands, such that landmark category and/or type selection maybe accomplished via voice-activated commands. For example, once landmarkmode is selected, the technician may select a particular landmarkcategory or type by simply speaking into the microphone (e.g.,“telephone pole,” “fire hydrant,” “meter,” “manhole,” “curb,” etc.).

In addition to, or as an alternative to, selection of landmark categoryand/or type, block 618 may provide for the entry of any of a variety oftext information for inclusion as part of the landmark information in anelectronic record. For example, in some exemplary implementations, viathe user interface and/or display the technician may enter text-basedinformation relating to an environmental landmark (e.g., as an offset toanother topological, architectural, or infrastructure feature inproximity to the environmental landmark—“telephone pole 5 ft. from backof curb”). Additionally, in a manner similar to landmark type selection,the user interface/display may provide for menu-driven selection via aGUI of predetermined options for additional text-based information to beincluded as part of the landmark information (e.g., a set of “stock”text messages for selection to be included as part of landmarkinformation).

Following selection of landmark category and/or type in block 618 of theprocess 1200 shown in FIG. 12, and/or entry/section of any text-basedinformation in block 618 of the process 1200 shown in FIG. 12, in block620 actuations of the actuator 142 in landmark mode cause the processorto collect various “landmark information” with each actuation, whichinformation is logged in an electronic record as a “landmark evententry” (rather than an actuation event entry, as noted in Table 3above). Furthermore, as noted above, the processor 118 and/or the linktransmitter 168 of the actuation system 120 may be particularlyconfigured to either dispense or not dispense marking material uponactuations in landmark mode. Essentially, in landmark mode, thetechnician positions the marking device proximate to a selectedcategory/type of landmark and actuates the actuator to acquire variousinformation relating to the landmark (e.g., geo-location data, type,time stamp).

In general, the processor may be configured to communicate with (e.g.,poll) any of a variety of input devices to collect landmark informationto be logged in an electronic record. As discussed above in connectionwith the marking mode (refer again to FIG. 2), such information may beacquired from any of a variety of input devices including, but notlimited to, the location tracking system 130, the timing system 128, thecommunications interface 124 (e.g., a USB port or other port), the userinterface 126, and the local memory 122.

In particular, any data that is available from the location trackingsystem (e.g., any information available in various NMEA data messages,such as coordinated universal time, date, latitude, north/southindicator, longitude, east/west indicator, number and identification ofsatellites used in the position solution, number and identification ofGPS satellites in view and their elevation, azimuth and SNR values,dilution of precision values) may be collected as landmark informationand logged in an electronic record as part of a landmark event entry.Additionally, information collected from the user interface in the formof a text entry by the technician may be included in a landmark evententry; for example, in one implementation, upon actuation of theactuator, the processor may prompt the technician via the display of theuser interface to enter text notes, if desired (e.g., the technician maydescribe an offset of a target environmental landmark from anarchitectural, topographical, or infrastructure feature to complimentgeographic information provided by the location tracking system), andthis textual information may serve as landmark information. In view ofthe foregoing, it should be appreciated that “landmark information” mayinclude a wide variety of information components including, but notlimited to, one or more of geographical information (e.g., from thelocation tracking system), timing information (e.g., from the locationtracking system and/or the timing system), landmark category and/or typeinformation (e.g., selected or entered via the user interface), textualinformation (e.g., entered via the user interface), or other information(e.g., received from the local memory and/or the communicationsinterface).

Table 9 below provides an example of content and format for a landmarkevent entry that may be logged in a file for an electronic record and/ortransmitted by the marking device when in landmark mode. The examplelandmark event entry shown below in Table 9 also follows a similarformat to that used for the event entry examples provided in Tables 2-5above.

TABLE 9 Format INFO+LMRK: (DATE) (TIME) (GPS data) (CATEGORY, TYPE)(TEXT) <CR><LF> Examples INFO+LMRK: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:44)GPS($GPGGA, 120443, 4807.038, N, 01131.000, E, 1, 08, 0.9, 545.4, M,46.9, M,, *47) LMRK(3, 12) (“Panel mounted rear wall of shed”)<CR><LF>

In the example landmark event entry given in Table 9, the landmarkinformation includes a time stamp (e.g., DATE and TIME), geographicalinformation (e.g., GPS data), category/type information, and text-basedinformation for an environmental landmark. The notation LMRK (3,12) inthe example denotes a category 3, type 12 landmark which, in theexemplary listings provided above, corresponds to “Power Line,” “CircuitBreaker.” It should be appreciated that the event entry shown in Table 9is provided primarily for purposes of illustration, and that a varietyof other or additional landmark information may be included in landmarkevent entries, as noted above.

As with the event entry examples provided in Tables 2-5 above, theexemplary format for a mode select and landmark event entry as shown inTables 8 and 9 may be included in either an ASCII and XML file formatfor an electronic record that is stored and/or transmitted by themarking device (in which a particular naming scheme/format may beadopted to identify files/electronic records, such as“ServerID_WandID_Job ID”). It should also be appreciated that anelectronic record generated by a multi-mode marking device in someinstances may include a mixture of actuation event entries and landmarkevent entries, actuation event entries without any landmark evententries, and landmark event entries without any actuation event entries.

Yet another alternative format for storing and organizing landmarkinformation in an electronic record, according to one embodiment of theinvention, is shown in Tables 10 and 11 below. By way of example, Table10 shows the format and content of an electronic record entry for autility pole, which includes one geo-location data point, and Table 11shows the format and content of an electronic record entry for apedestal, which includes four geo-location data points (i.e., one foreach corner of the pedestal). It should be appreciated that the formatand content shown below in Tables 10 and 11 is provided primarily forpurposes of illustration and, as noted above, a variety of format andcontent may be included in an electronic record entry for landmarkinformation. The examples provided in Tables 10 and 11 may constitute an“original” electronic record generated by the processor pursuant to theprocess 1200 shown in FIG. 12, or may be derived from raw data collectedand logged pursuant to the process 1200 (e.g., as a flat file, an ASCIIformatted file, or an XML formatted file) and subsequently reorganizedand particularly formatted. It should also be appreciated that theexamples provided in Tables 10 and 11 illustrate that landmarkinformation may be included in an electronic record together with one orboth of ticket information and service-related information, as discussedabove in connection with electronic records including various markinginformation.

TABLE 10 Example record of data acquired for a utility pole while inlandmark identification mode of operation Record Service provider ID0482 # 1 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 Type of EL Type = utility poletimestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:17.5 geo-location data 2650.9256, N,08003.5234, W Other info (text entry) “5 ft. from back of curb” Locaterequest data Requestor: XYZ Construction Company, Requested serviceaddress: 222 Main St, Orlando, FL

TABLE 11 Example record of data acquired for a pedestal while inlandmark identification mode of operation Record Service provider ID0482 # 2 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 Type of EL Type = pedestaltimestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:17.5 geo-location data 2650.9256, N,08003.5234, W Type of EL Type = pedestal timestamp data 12-Jul-2008;09:35:21.2 geo-location data 2650.9256, N, 08003.5226, W Type of EL Type= pedestal timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:26.7 geo-location data2650.9288, N, 08003.5188, W Type of EL Type = pedestal timestamp data12-Jul-2008; 09:35:33.5 geo-location data 2650.9321, N, 08003.5177, WOther info (text entry) “7 ft from pavement edge” Locate request dataRequestor: XYZ Construction Company, Requested service address: 222 MainSt, Orlando, FL

FIG. 13 is a block diagram similar to FIG. 10 and illustrates anexemplary data structure for an electronic record 135 that includes bothmarking information and landmark information (i.e., that may begenerated by and/or based on information collected during the process1200 discussed above in connection with FIG. 12 and based on theorganization of information shown in Tables 9 and 10 above). Like theexemplary electronic record shown in FIG. 10, the record 135 in FIG. 13includes a file identifier 701 (e.g., one or more of Job ID, WandID,ServerID, etc.) and a plurality of actuation data sets 1 through N (withreference numbers 702A, 702B, 702C . . . 702N), wherein each actuationdata set is associated with a corresponding actuation of a markingdevice. In FIG. 13, also as in FIG. 10, additional details of the datastructure for actuation data set 3 702C are shown, relating to markinginformation collected in marking mode. However, unlike FIG. 10, FIG. 13shows that the actuation data set 2 702B relates to landmark informationacquired pursuant to an actuation in landmark mode; in particular, theactuation data set 2 702B includes a date/time field 1702, a type field1704, and a geo-location field 1706 corresponding to a landmark evententry.

In other respects, the data structure in FIG. 13 is similar to thatshown in FIG. 10. For example, various other information that may becommon to multiple (or all) actuation data sets of a given electronicrecord may be stored in one or more additional elements of theelectronic record that are not contained within one or more of theactuation data sets themselves (e.g., one or more of the ticketinformation field 714, the service-related information field 716, andthe marking material properties field 710, which are shown as part ofthe data structure for a given actuation data set of the electronicrecord, may instead be elements of the electronic record that are commonto all actuation data sets of a given electronic record).

Once an actuation of the marking device in landmark mode has been loggedas a landmark event entry, the process 1200 shown in FIG. 12 returns toblock 610. At this point, the technician is provided (via the userinterface/display) with the options of pausing the job (block 610),restarting the job if previously paused (block 612), stopping the joband indicating completion (block 614) or selecting landmark mode again(block 616) for the next actuation. If the technician selects none ofthese options, the process returns to block 608, at which point furtherpolling and/or interrupt events are logged (i.e., an actuation evententry capturing marking information is logged with the next actuation ofthe actuator), as discussed above in connection with FIG. 9.Accordingly, after an actuation in landmark mode, in one exemplaryimplementation the marking device defaults back to the marking mode,unless and until the technician selects the landmark mode again for asubsequent actuation.

In an alternative implementation not shown in FIG. 12, followingactuation of the marking device in landmark mode, the processor maycontrol the user interface/display to provide an option to thetechnician to exit landmark mode (rather than automatically presentingthe options of pause job, restart job, stop job, or landmark mode). Inthis manner, the marking device remains in landmark mode for subsequentactuations until the technician makes a menu selection to exit landmarkmode, at which point the process 1200 returns to block 610.

In yet another embodiment, the processor 118, executing marking dataalgorithm 134 in landmark mode, may be configured to generate anessentially continuous stream of data packets representing various evententries logged by the marking device (e.g., as shown above in Tables2-9). As discussed above in connection with the marking mode, each datapacket may include a header, one or more flag fields, and one or moreinformation payload fields. To accommodate both a marking mode and alandmark mode, one flag field may be set or reset upon selection of thelandmark mode so as to identify the contents of any information payloadfield in the data packet as landmark information as opposed to markinginformation. Similarly, as discussed above, one or more other flagfields may be set (or reset) upon occurrence of one or morepredetermined interrupt events (e.g., pull/depress actuator, releaseactuator, marking dispenser in, marking dispenser out, low power,communication link fail, etc.). In this manner, a continuous stream ofdata may be provided as an output by the processor, in which certaininterrupt events, such as an actuation and/or release of the actuator,“tag” certain data packets via an interrupt flag, and certain datapackets also may be tagged as generated in marking mode or landmarkmode. In yet other aspects of this embodiment, all data packets thuslygenerated may be stored in the file opened for the electronic recordand/or transmitted from the marking device in essentially real time;alternatively, only certain data packets with one or more predeterminedflags set may be stored and/or transmitted.

Thus, in landmark identification mode, a locate technician may employ anappropriately configured marking device to capture the types andlocations of environmental landmarks of interest that are present at thework site and/or in the general environs of a dig area. While inlandmark mode, the locate technician may approach a certainenvironmental landmark, then select the type of the environmentallandmark via user interface, position the marking device (e.g., placethe tip of marking device) proximate to the target environmentallandmark, and then actuate the marking device. In doing so, the markingdevice logs in an electronic record landmark information including, forexample, the type of the target environmental landmark, the geo-locationof the target environmental landmark, and a time stamp in an electronicrecord. The locate technician may move from one environmental landmarkto the next until information about all environmental landmarks ofinterest has been captured. Additionally, one or more data points (e.g.,“landmark event entries”) may be captured for any given environmentallandmark.

III. LOCATE DEVICE FOR GENERATING ELECTRONIC RECORDS OF LOCATEOPERATIONS

Other embodiments of the present invention relate to locate devices, thecollection of “locate information” associated with a locate operation,and generation of an electronic record of such locate information. Withreference again to FIG. 1A, as discussed above a locate device (orso-called “locate set”) may include at least one transmitter and alocate receiver. In one embodiment of the present invention, one or bothof a locate transmitter and a locate receiver may be particularlyconfigured, according to various concepts discussed above in connectionwith marking devices and other concepts discussed in further detailbelow, to acquire locate information relating to a locate operation,generate an electronic record of the acquired locate information, andstore, transmit, analyze or otherwise process the acquired locateinformation.

Various types of locate information may be generated during, orotherwise associated with, the use of a locate set to perform a locateoperation. For example, locate information related to the use of thetransmitter may include, but is not limited to, information about theapplied signal power, the applied signal frequency, the location of thetransmitter, the connection point type (i.e., the manner in whichconnection is made to the target object, such as direct connection,inductive coupling, etc.), an identification of the transmitter unit(e.g., serial number), information about how the transmitter unit isgrounded (if at all), and an indication of whether a sufficientelectrical connection has been made to the target object (e.g., sometransmitters produce a “continuity signal” indicative of the quality ofthe connection between the transmitter and the target object). Locateinformation related to the use of the locate receiver may include, butis not limited to, an identification of the locate receiver (e.g., aserial number), the mode of operation of the locate receiver (e.g., peakmode v. null mode), the frequency to which the locate receiver is tuned,the gain of the locate receiver, the frequency of a detected magneticfield, the amplitude/strength of a detected magnetic field, theelectrical current of the detected signal, the location of the locatereceiver, and a depth measurement taken by the locate receiver (whichmay be used, for example, as additional information regarding a targetobject). In addition, locate information relating to the locateoperation itself may include, but is not limited to, information aboutthe target object, the location of the locate site, the party requestingthe locate, the party performing the locate, and whether any locateoperations have previously been performed for this site.

According to some aspects of the invention, locate information relatingto a locate set, and/or locate operation more generally, may berecorded, transmitted, and/or processed, for example, to enableevaluation of the performance of the locate technician, evaluation ofthe operation of the locate equipment, reconstruction of the actionstaken by the locate technician during the locate operation, and/or tofacilitate comparison of collected data to historical data. In oneexemplary embodiment, a locate receiver is configured to store and/ortransmit locate information relating to a locate set and/or a locateoperation, and in some implementations generate an electronic record ofat least some of the locate information. Examples of locate-relatedinformation that may be logged into an electronic record may include anyof the types of information described above or any suitable combinationsof information of interest, and generally may include, but are notlimited to:

-   -   timing information (e.g., one or more time stamps) associated        with one or more events occurring during a given locate        operation;    -   geographic information (e.g., one or more geographic        coordinates) associated with one or more events of a locate        operation (in some instances, the geographic information may be        accompanied by timing information, such as a time stamp, for        each acquisition of geographic information); and/or geographic        diagnostics information (e.g., GPS diagnostics information, such        as, but not limited to, the quality of a GPS signal, the number        of satellites in view of the GPS receiver, etc.);    -   service-related information: one or more identifiers for the        locate technician performing the locate operation, the locate        contractor (service provider) dispatching the locate technician,        and/or the party requesting the locate operation;    -   ticket information: information relating to one or more        facilities to be located, location information (e.g., an        address, geo-coordinates, and/or text description) relating to        the work site and/or dig area in which the locate and marking        operation is performed, ground type information (e.g., a        description of the ground at which the locate is performed),        excavator information, other text-based information, etc.    -   target object information: information about the target object        (e.g., facility) to be located, such as the type of object,        expected depth of object, etc.;    -   locate performance information: information entered, detected        and/or sensed as part of performing the locate operation, such        as ground type in the area of the locate operation (e.g., grass,        pavement, etc., which could also or alternatively be indicated        in ticket information), magnetic field strength and frequency,        electric current magnitude, depth of the located object, the        mode of operation of the locate receiver (e.g., peak v. null        detection modes), the gain of the locate receiver, etc. With        respect to locate receivers, the “gain” is typically a measure        of the degree of sensitivity of a locate receiver antenna that        is picking up a signal emanating from along an underground        facility (alternatively, “gain” may be viewed as a degree of        amplification being applied to a received signal). Gain may be        expressed in terms of any scale (e.g., 0-100), as a numeric        value or percentage. “Signal strength” (or “magnetic field        strength”) refers to the strength of a received signal at a        given gain value; signal strength similarly may be expressed in        terms of any scale, as a numeric value or percentage. Generally        speaking, higher signal strengths at lower gains typically        indicate more reliable information from a locate receiver, but        this may not necessarily be the case for all locate operations;    -   locate receiver information: information about the locate        receiver, such as identification of the locate receiver (e.g.,        serial number), make and model of the locate receiver, mode of        operation, battery level, etc.; and    -   transmitter information: information about any transmitter and        transmitter signal (also referred to herein as an applied        signal) utilized for the locate operation, such as transmitter        type, connection type, applied signal frequency, transmitter        power, whether a continuity indication is provided for the        applied signal, etc.

One or more electronic records based on the locate information describedabove, or any other locate-related information, may be generated,logged/stored in local memory of the locate receiver, formatted in anyof a variety of manners (as discussed above in connection with themarking device), saved as any of a variety of file types having any of avariety of data structures, processed and/or analyzed at the locatereceiver itself, and/or transmitted to another device (for example, to acomputer or, in those embodiments in which multiple locate receivers areused to complete a same locate operation, to another locate receiver)for storage, processing and/or analysis.

FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate a functional block diagram and perspectiveview, respectively, of one example of a data acquisition system 1600including a locate receiver 1610 and optionally a remote computer 1650,according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown, thelocate receiver 1610 comprises detection electronics 1620, controlelectronics 1630, and a power source 1614 configured to power thedetection electronics 1620 and the control electronics 1630. Thedetection electronics 1620 comprise an RF antenna 1624, a detectioncircuit 1626, and a processing circuit 1628. The control electronics1630 comprise a processor 1632 coupled to a local memory 1634, acommunication interface 1636, a user interface 1638, a timing system1640, a location tracking system 1642, and an actuation system 1621.

Some of the components illustrated in FIG. 14 are similarly named tosome components in FIG. 2 relating to a marking device. According tosome embodiments, one or more of the components appearing in FIG. 14 maybe the same as, or substantially similar to, components in FIG. 2. Forexample, in some embodiments one or more of the following componentsappearing in FIGS. 2 and 14 may be the same as, or substantially similarto, each other (and therefore may function in the same or asubstantially similar manner): power source 114 and power source 1614;remote computer 150 and remote computer 1650; communication interface124 and communication interface 1636; user interface 126 and userinterface 1638; timing system 128 and timing system 1640; locationtracking system 130 and location tracking system 1642; processor 118 andprocessor 1632; local memory 122 and local memory 1634; actuation system120 and actuation system 1621. With respect to actuation system 1621, itshould be appreciated that there is no marker dispensed by the locatereceiver 1610 shown in FIG. 14, but the actuation system 1621 maynonetheless initiate or control logging of data in a manner similar tothat discussed above in connection with the marking device 110,including taking of a depth measurement or performance of some otherfunction of the locate receiver 1610, as described further below.

In some embodiments, a user may commence a locate operation with thelocate receiver by inputting various information to the locate receiver,and/or selecting various operating options, via the user interface. As anon-limiting example, the user may select from various menu options(using the user interface and display as a menu-driven GUI), and ormanually enter via the user interface, the type of targetobject/facility to be located, the address of the locate operation, theground type (e.g., grass, pavement, etc.), whether or not a separatetransmitter is being used, the mode of the locate receiver (e.g., Peakv. Null), whether the locate receiver is being operated in landmark modeor not (described further below), or any other information of interestto a locate operation.

In one exemplary implementation, the user may first power on the locatereceiver and log on, for example by entering a user ID. The user maythen navigate through a menu on a touch screen of the user interface toselect the target object to be located, for example selecting from amonga list of options (e.g., including facility types such as gas, sewer,cable, and phone, etc.). Similarly, the user may then navigate through amenu to select the ground type in the area of the locate operation(e.g., selecting from a list of options including grass, pavement, dirt,etc.). The user may then similarly select or input the frequency of anyapplied signal provided by a transmitter, for example using a keypad ofthe user interface or a menu-driven GUI. It should be provided thatthese examples of user actions are non-limiting, and furthermore that insome embodiments one or more of the pieces of information listed may bedetected automatically and not be input/selected by the user.

Once the target object/facility type and any other relevant or desiredinformation is input and/or selected by the technician, and the appliedsignal from the transmitter is coupled to the target object, the locatereceiver may be used in a variety of manners by the technician for alocate operation, in which the technician generally positions (e.g.,sweeps) the locate receiver over an area in which they expect to detectan underground facility. More specifically, the technician positions thelocate receiver such that the RF antenna 1624 (which may include morethan one antenna, as described further below) may receive/detect amagnetic field emitted by the target object (see underground facility1515 in FIG. 1A).

In some embodiments, the locate receiver 1610 is capable of operating ina null mode (e.g., capable of detecting a null signal when positionedover an object (e.g., facility) emitting a magnetic field), such that RFantenna 1624 may comprise a null detection antenna. Alternatively, thelocate receiver 1610 is capable of operating in a peak detection mode(e.g., capable of detecting a peak signal when over an object (e.g.,facility) emitting a magnetic field), and the RF antenna 1624 comprisestwo peak detection antennae, which may be positioned substantiallyparallel to each other but at different positions within the locatereceiver (e.g., at different heights). In some embodiments, the locatereceiver 1610 is capable of operating in both peak detection and nulldetection modes, and the RF antenna 1624 may comprise three antennae,e.g., one null detection antenna and two peak detection antennae.However, RF antenna 1624 may comprise any other number, type, andorientation of antennae, as the locate receivers described herein arenot limited in these respects.

The RF antenna 1624 may be coupled to the detection circuit 1626 suchthat the signal(s) received/detected by the RF antenna 1624 may beprovided to the detection circuit 1626 as an output signal of the RFantenna. The output signal of the RF antenna may be any frequencydetectable by the antenna, and in some embodiments may be betweenapproximately 512 Hz and 1 MHz, although these non-limiting frequenciesare provided primarily for purposes of illustration. As mentioned, theoutput signal of the RF antenna 1624, which in some embodiments is ananalog signal, may be provided to detection circuit 1626, which mayperform various functions. For example, the detection circuit 1626 mayperform various “front-end” operations on the output signal of RFantenna 1624, such as filtering, buffering, frequency shifting ormodulation, and/or pre-amplifying the output signal. Furthermore, thedetection circuit 1626 may perform additional functions, such asamplifying and/or digitizing the output signal provided by RF antenna1624. It should be appreciated, however, that the types of functionsdescribed as being performed by detection circuit 1626 are non-limitingexamples, and that other functions may additionally or alternatively beperformed.

After detection circuit 1626 has operated on the signal from RF antenna1624 (e.g., by filtering, buffering, amplifying, and/or digitizing,among other possible operations), it may provide a signal to processingcircuit 1628. The processing circuit 1628 may process the signal(s)provided by detection circuit 1626 in any suitable manner to determineany information of interest. For example, according to one embodiment,the processing circuit 1628 may process the signal(s) from detectioncircuit 1626 to determine a magnetic field strength of a magnetic fielddetected by RF antenna 1624. The processing circuit 1628 may process thesignal(s) from detection circuit 1626 to determine an amplitude and/ordirection of the electrical current creating the magnetic field(s)detected by RF antenna 1624. Processing circuit 1628 may performoperations to calculate, for example, the depth and location of thetarget facility based on the electromagnetic fields detected by RFantenna 1624. Processing circuit 1628 may be an analog circuit or adigital microprocessor, or any other suitable processing component forperforming one or more of the operations described above, or any otheroperations of interest with respect to signals detected by RF antenna1624. Also, it should be appreciated that processing circuit 1628 andprocessor 1632 (described in further detail below) may be a singleprocessor in some embodiments, as the illustration of them as distinctin FIG. 14 is only one non-limiting example.

Processor 1632 of control electronics 1630 may be any suitable processorfor controlling and/or coordinating operation of the detectionelectronics 1620 and/or control electronics 1630. For example, theprocessor 1632 may be any general-purpose processor, controller, ormicrocontroller device. In some embodiments, processor 1632 controlslogging of data (e.g., locate information) from the processing circuit1628, timing system 1640, and/or location tracking system 1642 to thelocal memory 1634. The manner in which such data may be logged to thelocal memory 1634 may depend on the type of data being logged, as theoperation of locate receiver 1610 is not limited in this respect.

For example, data from timing system 1640 and/or location trackingsystem 1642 may be automatically logged continuously (e.g., in the formof streaming packets with flag fields, as described below, or in anyother continuous form) or periodically to the local memory 1634, may belogged in response to one or more types of events (e.g., may be loggedautomatically when a particular event occurs), and/or may be logged atany suitable times. In particular, in one implementation, logging mayoccur at periodic intervals during performance of a locate operation,such as every second, every five seconds, every minute, or at any othersuitable time interval. According to another embodiment, timinginformation and/or geographic information from timing system 1640 andlocation tracking system 1642, respectively, may be logged in responseto particular types of events, such as detecting an underground facilityor detecting the absence of an underground facility. Such events may beidentified by signals output by processing circuit 1628 to processor1632. As a non-limiting example, timing information and/or geographicinformation may be logged when a characteristic (e.g., magnetic fieldstrength) of a signal detected by RF antenna 1624 is greater than aparticular threshold value, which may be indicated by a signal outputfrom processing circuit 1628 to processor 1632, and which occurrence maybe indicative of the presence of an underground facility. Similarly, insome embodiments time timing information and/or geographic informationmay be logged when a signal detected by RF antenna 1624 has a magnitudeabove a first threshold and the gain of the locate receiver 1610 isabove a second threshold. It should be appreciated that variouscombinations of detected signals detected by locate receiver 1610 may beused to trigger logging of information (e.g., timing information and/orgeographic information) to local memory. It should also be appreciatedthat any information available from the location tracking system 1642(e.g., any information available in various NMEA data messages, such ascoordinated universal time, date, latitude, north/south indicator,longitude, east/west indicator, number and identification of satellitesused in the position solution, number and identification of GPSsatellites in view and their elevation, azimuth and SNR values, dilutionof precision values) may be included in geographic informationconstituting all or a portion of logged locate information.

In some embodiments, information (e.g., timing information and/orgeographic information) may be logged in response to detection of apattern of events, or deviation from a pattern of events. For example, apattern of magnetic field strength magnitudes (e.g., a relativelyconstant magnetic field strength for a given time, an increasingmagnetic field strength, a decreasing magnetic field strength, etc.) maybe detected by the locate receiver, which may trigger logging of timinginformation and/or geographic information. Deviation from a pattern,such as a historical pattern or expected pattern may also triggerlogging of information. For example, a user's historical use patterns ofa locate receiver may be compared to information collected about the useof the locate receiver during a given job, and if a deviation isdetected then logging of timing and/or geographic information may betriggered. The patterns or deviations from patterns may relate topatterns in magnetic field strength, magnetic field frequency, signalgain, user operation, any other information described herein, or anycombination of such information.

In some embodiments, alternatively or in addition to “automatic” loggingof locate information based on some condition or event, a user of thelocate receiver 1610 may “manually” trigger logging of timinginformation, geographic information, and/or any other data associatedwith a locate operation or locate receiver (locate information), forexample by manipulating a control (e.g., button, knob, joystick) of theuser interface 1638, or by actuating an actuator 1641 (e.g., atrigger-pull mechanism similar to the actuator 142 of the marking device110 shown in FIG. 3) integrated or otherwise associated with the locatereceiver (as shown in FIG. 15), which may be part of the actuationsystem 1621 and which may cause a signal to be sent to the processor1632 to initiate logging of locate information. For example, accordingto some embodiments a user may initiate the locate receiver 1610 takinga depth measurement by depressing a pushbutton of the user interface1638, or pulling/squeezing the actuator 1641, which may also trigger thelogging of timing information and/or geographic information from timingsystem 1640 and location tracking system 1642. The depth measurementdata, time data, and/or location data may then be logged in anelectronic record in local memory 1634.

It should be appreciated that while the foregoing discussion focuses onlogging locate information to local memory 1634, the locate informationmay also, or alternatively, be transmitted to remote computer 1650 viacommunication interface 1636. As with logging locate information tolocal memory 1634, the transmission of locate information to remotecomputer 1650 may be performed continuously, periodically in response toone or more types of events, in response to user input or actuation ofan actuator, or in any other suitable manner.

As discussed above in connection with the marking device 110, in yetanother embodiment, the processor 1632 of the locate receiver 1610 maybe configured to continuously collect various available locateinformation (e.g., repeatedly/regularly poll all available input devicesand other components of the locate receiver) and generate an essentiallycontinuous stream of data packets including locate information. In oneaspect of this embodiment, each data packet of locate information mayinclude a header, one or more flag fields, and one or more informationpayload fields. For example, in one implementation, the header for eachpacket may include one or more of a job ID (e.g., ticket identifier),technician ID, device ID (e.g., serial number), packet type ID, and/or atime stamp corresponding to logging of information/generation of thepacket. Each packet also may include one or more payload fields forcarrying information provided by the polled device(s) or components ofthe locate receiver, and one or more flag fields that are set (or reset)upon occurrence of one or more predetermined interrupt events (e.g.,signal strength from receiver antenna exceeding a predeterminedthreshold, low power, communication link fail, etc.). In this manner, acontinuous stream of data may be provided as an output by the processor,in which certain interrupt events, such as an actuation and/or releaseof an actuator, or other event-based logging of locate information,“tag” certain data packets via an interrupt flag. In yet other aspectsof this embodiment, all data packets thusly generated may be stored inthe file opened for the electronic record and/or transmitted from thelocate device in essentially real time; alternatively, only certain datapackets with one or more predetermined flags set may be stored and/ortransmitted.

As with those embodiments relating to a marking device previouslydescribed in section II of this application, various “locate evententries” including locate information corresponding to different eventsrelating to use and operation of one or more locate devices may belogged in a file for an electronic record and/or transmitted by thelocate device(s) described herein. Various exemplary formats for theselocate event entries are now described, although it should beappreciated that various other entries and formats are possible, asthose shown and described below are provided primarily for purposes ofillustration.

Job Started/Paused/Restarted/Completed Events:

As with the marking devices described above, one event entry format fora locate receiver according to an embodiment of the present inventionprovides information about when a locate operation (“job”) was startedand completed in addition to capturing details about if and when the jobwas paused and restarted. Such an entry may substantially take the formof the analogous entry in Table 2, understanding that the “WAND_ID”portion of the entry may be replaced by a “LOCATE_RECEIVER_ID” portion.

Actuation Events:

As has been described, according to at least one embodiment of thepresent invention, a locate receiver may be operated to collect and/ortransmit locate information upon actuation by a user. Table 12illustrates an example of an entry relating to the actuation event.Locate information from one or more input devices/other components ofthe locate device may be recorded upon actuation to provide informationabout the job in progress. The facility type information may beentered/selected by a user as described previously, and may be recordedin the event, for example, according to the color-coding scheme of Table7.

TABLE 12 Format INFO+ LCTR: (DATE) (TIME) (GPS data) (FACILITY TYPE)(GROUND TYPE) (MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTH AS % OF FULL SCALE info)(DETECTED SIGNAL FREQUENCY) (GAIN) <CR><LF> Examples INFO+LCTR:DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:44) GPS($GPGGA, 120443, 4807.038, N,01131.000, E, 1, 08, 0.9, 545.4, M, 46.9, M,, *47) FACILITY TYPE(YELLOW) GROUND TYPE (PAVEMENT) STRENGTH(80) FREQUENCY(512) GAIN (10)<CR><LF> INFO+LCTR: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:45) GPS($GPGGA, 120445,4807.038, N, 01131.000, E, 1, 08, 0.9, 545.4, M, 46.9, M,, *47) FACILITYTYPE (YELLOW) GROUND TYPE (GRASS) STRENGTH(81) FREQUENCY (512) GAIN (10)<CR><LF> INFO+LCTR: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:46) GPS($GPGGA, 120446,4807.038, N, 01131.000, E, 1, 08, 0.9, 545.4, M, 46.9, M,, *47) FACILITYTYPE (YELLOW) GROUND TYPE (DIRT) STRENGTH(80) FREQUENCY(512) GAIN (11)<CR><LF>

Locate Device Status Events:

The status event of a locate device collects various locate-relatedinformation and/or information on operating characteristics of thelocate device on a periodic basis while a job is in progress (e.g.,pursuant to processor polls). The entry may be similar to thatillustrated in Table 4 for marking devices, although the information mayrelate to the locate aspect of a job. An example is shown below in Table13. In the non-limiting example, the entries include information aboutthe mode of the locate receiver (e.g., peak v. null). It should beappreciated, however, that other information may additionally oralternatively be included in the event entry.

TABLE 13 Format INFO+LCTSTAT: (DATE) (TIME) (GPS data) (MODE status)(MEMORY used in %) (BATTERY level) <CR><LF> Examples INFO+LCTSTAT:DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:04:00) GPS($GPGGA, 120400, 4807.038, N,01131.000, E, 1, 08, 0.9, 545.4, M, 46.9, M,, *47) MODE(PEAK) MEM(65)BAT(3)<CR><LF>

Error Events:

As with the discussion of Table 5 in the context of a marking device,one or more types of error events may be logged in association with alocate device. The errors may correspond to a malfunction of a locatereceiver and/or any input device, or any other errors of interest. Theevent entry may take substantially the same form as that shown in Table5.

It should be appreciated that the event types described above and thelogged location information shown in the corresponding tables areprovided primarily for purposes of illustration, and are not limiting.Thus, events of various other types and with various other informationmay be logged into an electronic record.

Table 14, shown below, lists another example of the contents of anelectronic record of locate information that may be generated and storedand/or transmitted relating to operation of a locate receiver, accordingto one non-limiting embodiment. The electronic record shown in Table 14includes a record number (record #1001), an identification of theservice provider, an identification of the user (i.e., the locatetechnician operating the locate receiver), and an identification of thelocate receiver. The mode of operation of the locate receiver (e.g.,peak) may also be included. Timing information (timestamp data) from atiming system of the locate receiver and geographic information from alocation tracking system of the locate receiver may also be included.The signal strength and signal frequency entries of the electronicrecord indicate characteristics of a signal (e.g., a magnetic field)detected by the locate receiver, for example emitted from an undergroundfacility. The signal strength is listed in the example of Table 14 as apercentage of the maximum detectable by the locate receiver, although itshould be appreciated that other units of measurement may alternativelybe used. The gain entry indicates the gain setting of the locatereceiver. The electronic record also includes an entry for the depth ofthe facility targeted, as may be determined by taking a depthmeasurement using a locate receiver (e.g., by calculating a differencein magnetic field strength detected by two different antennae at twodifferent locations within a locate receiver), and for the facility type(e.g., gas, electric, etc.) and ground type in the area of the locateoperation. The electronic record of Table 14 also includes the addressof the locate operation and the party requesting the locate operation.Lastly, Table 14 includes information about the remaining battery lifeof the locate receiver for those embodiments that include a battery.

TABLE 14 Example Electronic Record For Locate Receiver Record Serviceprovider ID 0482 # 1001 User ID 4815 Receiver ID 7362 Receiver mode Mode= Peak Timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:15 Geo-location data 2650.9348,N, 08003.5057, W Signal strength (% of 85% maximum) Gain  45 Signalfrequency 1 kHz Facility depth 3.4 meters Facility type Gas (yellow)Ground type Pavement Battery strength data 85% Locate request dataRequestor = XYZ Construction Company, Requested service address = 222Main St, Orlando, FL

It should be appreciated that Table 14 represents only one non-limitingexample of an electronic record of locate information which may begenerated in accordance with the operation of a locate receiver,according to one embodiment. In particular, a single electronic recordof locate information collected in connection with operation of a locatereceiver may include multiple entries of a given data type. For example,while Table 14 illustrates an electronic record including a single GPSdata point, it should be appreciated that multiple GPS data points maybe taken and stored within a single electronic record. The multiple GPSdata points may be taken in response to a single actuation event (e.g.,single actuator pull by a technician), in response to multiple actuationevents (e.g., multiple actuator pulls by a technician), or in othermanners. Thus, multiple pieces of data may be collected for anelectronic record of a locate operation, and it should be appreciatedthat any single electronic record may include multiple entries, forexample as shown above with respect to Table 6.

As discussed above in connection with the marking device shown in FIGS.2 and 3, a file for an electronic record of locate information may haveany of a variety of formats and include any of a variety of datastructures. For example, such a file may be a flat file including asuccession of time stamped “locate event entries” of various locateinformation, for example as shown in Tables 12-14 (logged automaticallyas a result of one or more particular conditions, e.g., exceededthresholds for various signals, or manually as a result of useractuation of the locate receiver), or a differently formatted file(e.g., an ASCII file, an XML file), including files having a datastructure that segregates or separates in some manner the locateinformation into multiple different fields.

FIG. 15 illustrates a non-limiting perspective view of the locatereceiver 1610, providing one example of a physical configuration of thecomponents according to one embodiment. It should be appreciated,however, that other configurations are possible and that the variousaspects described herein as relating to locate receivers are not limitedto any particular configuration of components.

As shown, the locate receiver 1610 may comprise a housing 1627, to whichat least some of the components of the locate receiver 1610 aremechanically coupled (e.g., affixed, housed within, etc.). As shown, theRF antenna 1624 of detection electronics 1620 may be mechanicallycoupled to the housing (e.g., supported inside the housing), and in thisnon-limiting example includes three antennae, 1625 a-1625 c. Antennae1625 a and 1625 b may be configured to operate as peak detectionantenna, while antenna 1625 c may be configured to operate as a nulldetection antenna. In some embodiments, the antennae 1625 a and 1625 bmay be oriented substantially parallel to each other, and in someembodiments are oriented at approximately 90 degrees relative to antenna1625 c. Again, it should be appreciated that the number, type, andorientation of the antennae of locate receiver 1610 are not limited tothat shown in FIGS. 14 and 15. In addition, the control electronics 1630may be disposed within the housing 1627, and may be coupled to thedetection electronics 1620 by one or more wired or wireless connections.

As illustrated in FIG. 15, some of the components of the locate receiver1610 may be positioned externally on the housing 1627. For example, thelocation tracking system 1642 (e.g., in the form of a GPS receiver) maybe mounted on an electrical ground plane 1633 mechanically coupled tothe housing 1627. The user interface 1638 may be located externally onthe housing 1627, and, as mentioned previously, may include one or morebuttons, switches, knobs, a touch screen, or other user selection items.A display 1646 may also be included on an outer surface of the housing1627, to display information to a user.

In the non-limiting example of FIG. 15, the housing 1627 includes ahandle 1611, by which a user may hold the locate receiver 1610. In someembodiments, the power source 1614 may be located within the handle,although other configurations are also possible.

As with the marking devices described above, some aspects of theinvention provide a locate device (e.g., locate receiver) that may beconfigured (e.g., via particular instructions executing on the processor1632) to operate in multiple different modes to collect variousinformation relating not only to a locate operation (locateinformation), but additionally or alternatively various informationrelating to the work site/dig areas in which the locate operation isperformed. For example, in one implementation, the locate receiver maybe configured to operate in a first “locate mode” which essentiallyfollows various aspects of the operation of the locate receiver 1610described herein, and also may be configured to operate in a second“landmark identification mode,” like that described previously inconnection with a marking device. When switched into the landmark mode,the locate receiver may stop detecting a magnetic field, e.g., the RFantenna of the locate receiver may be temporarily disabled in someembodiments. In other embodiments, the locate receiver may continue tooperate and the landmark mode may represent additional functionalityadded to the locate receiver functionality.

According to those aspects of the invention providing a locate device(e.g., locate receiver) configurable to operate in both a locate modeand a landmark mode, the landmark mode may be substantially the same asthe landmark mode previously described herein. For example, the landmarkmode of a locate receiver may be used to collect the same types oflandmark information described previously with respect to markingdevices having a landmark mode, such as any of the types of informationillustrated and described with respect to Tables 8-11, or any othersuitable information.

The locate receiver may have any suitable components/circuitry allowingfor operation in both a landmark mode and a locate receiver mode. Forexample, the locate receiver may include a bypass device similar to thatdescribed with respect to a marking device including landmarkfunctionality, in which the bypass device may bypass the operation ofthe locate receiver functioning to detect a target object.Alternatively, a user may select the landmark mode of the locatereceiver from a user interface, analogous to that previously describedin the context of a marking device having landmark functionality.

Thus, it should be appreciated that the landmark functionalitypreviously described with respect to a marking device may be suitablyapplied in the context of a locate receiver, according to someembodiments.

IV. COMMUNICATION BETWEEN LOCATE DEVICES AND MARKING DEVICES

Some embodiments of the present invention relate to a data acquisitionsystem comprising a locate device communicatively coupled to a markingdevice. The locate device may be substantially the same as thosedescribed herein relating to other embodiments of the present invention,and the marking device may be substantially the same as those describedherein relating to other embodiments of the present invention. Thelocate device and marking device may communicate with each other toexchange information relating to their respective uses during a locateand marking operation. In one embodiment, at least one of the locatedevice and marking device may be further communicatively coupled to anexternal device (e.g., a computing device) to receive data from and/ortransmit data to the external device.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a data acquisition system including alocate receiver 1610, a marking device 110, and optionally a remotecomputer 1650, according to one embodiment of the present invention.These devices may communicate with each other, via a wired or wirelesslink, and one or both may communicate (via a wired or wireless link)with remote computer 1650 or any other suitable external device.According to one embodiment, the locate receiver 1610 and marking device110 may be used together during a same locate and marking operation. Forexample, a technician may carry both devices, using the locate receiver1610 to locate a target object (e.g., an underground facility) and themarking device 110 to mark the location of the target object oncedetected. Each of locate receiver 1610 and marking device 110 mayoperate in substantially the same manner as previously described herein,including with respect to logging and/or transmitting information (e.g.,locate information, marking information, and/or landmark information).

Communication between the locate receiver 1610 and the marking device110 may proceed under any suitable protocol, and may include anysuitable information, as the embodiments described herein relating to alocate device communicatively coupled to a marking device are notlimited in this respect. According to one embodiment, one of the locatedevice and marking device may receive one or more event entries or oneor more electronic records generated by the other device. The receivingdevice may then combine the received event entries/electronic recordswith event entries/electronic records it has generated, and store and/ortransmit the combined data. Event entries and/or electronic records fromdifferent devices may be combined based on a common key (e.g., a commontimestamp, a common job ID, any combination of information, such asdate, time and location, or any other suitable key) or in any othermanner.

As a non-limiting example, the locate receiver may generate a locateevent entry of the format illustrated in Table 12. The locate evententry may be transmitted to the marking device, which itself may havegenerated a marking actuation event entry of the type illustrated inTable 3. The marking device may combine the locate event entry from thelocate receiver with the marking actuation event entry it has generatedif, for example the two records share some common “key,” i.e., means ofidentifying, relating and/or associating the respective evententries/records from different devices. Examples of common keys mayinclude, but are not limited to, a common job ID, device ID's that arerecognized as a working pair of “partnered” locate receivers and markingdevices (discussed further below), common file names or file extensionsfor electronic records, a common timestamp (an exact match may not berequired in all embodiments, but rather time within some suitabletolerance may suffice), a common geographic location (e.g., one or moreGPS coordinates for a present location of the respective devices), andinformation derived from any other entry or combination of entries fromthe respective devices. The combined, or compiled, electronic record,may then be stored in local memory of marking device 110 and/ortransmitted to remote computer 1650.

It should be appreciated that the above-described example is notlimiting, and is provided primarily for purposes of illustration. Forexample, the respective roles of the locate receiver and marking devicemay be reversed in some embodiments. Alternatively, both devices mayreceive data from the other of the two devices, and may store and/ortransmit the data.

In one embodiment, a locate receiver may be “partnered” with aparticular marking device such that the locate receiver and markingdevice are recognized as communicatively paired for purposes ofexchanging and/or sharing information. In one aspect, partnered devicesmay be identified by linking/associating their respective device IDs(e.g., manufacturer serial numbers, assigned IDs, etc.) in the localmemory of one or both devices, and/or in an external database accessibleto both devices (e.g., stored in the remote computer 150). The linkingof two such devices may be based on a number of factors/conditions,examples of which include, but are not limited to, a locate receiver anda marking device being assigned/checked-out to the same technician,and/or commonly docked together/assigned to the same vehicle).

In another embodiment, a locate receiver and/or a marking device may notnecessarily be configured to communicate with a particular partner(e.g., designated a priori), but rather one or both of the devices maybe configured to communicate with any other locate or marking devicewithin a given area (e.g., within 10 meters, as one non-limitingexample). To this end, in one exemplary implementation, a locatereceiver and/or marking device may poll for devices within some areawhen turned on (e.g., may broadcast messages to look for partners basedon some criterion/criteria, and/or look for wireless communicationsignals, such as Bluetooth signals, of sufficient strength). Otherscenarios are also possible, as the embodiments described hereinrelating to locate receivers communicatively coupled to marking devicesare not limited to the manner in which the devices communicate oridentify one another for communication.

The data may be transmitted between the locate receiver and markingdevice at any suitable times, such as periodically, upon user actuation,or in other suitable manner. Also, it should be appreciated that thelocate receiver and marking device need not be used together in allembodiments. For example, the two devices may be used on different days,or at any other time relative to each other, and may exchangeinformation at any suitable time. Thus, the various aspects describedherein relating to a locate receiver communicatively coupled to amarking device are not limited in these respects.

V. COMBINED LOCATE AND MARKING DEVICE

Yet other embodiments of the present invention are directed to acombined locate and marking device (also referred to herein as a“combination locate and marking device” or “combined locate and markingapparatus”). The combined locate and marking device may function as botha locate receiver for locating objects (e.g., underground facilities)and a marking device, as discussed herein in the preceding sections.

According to one aspect of such embodiments, a combination locate andmarking device is provided which is configured to collect, store,transmit to an external device and/or analyze/process any of the datatypes described previously herein (locate information, markinginformation, and/or landmark information), any combination of such datatypes, or any other information of relevance to the operation of thecombined locate and marking device.

FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate a functional block diagram and a perspectiveview, respectively, of a data acquisition system including a combinationlocate and marking device, according to one non-limiting embodiment. Asshown in FIG. 17, the data acquisition system 1800 comprises combinationlocate and marking device 1810 and (optionally) remote computer 150. Itshould be appreciated that many of the components illustrated in FIG. 17have been previously shown and/or described with respect to FIGS. 2 and14, and that a detailed description of such components is not repeatedhere, as they may operate in the same, or a substantially similar,manner to that previously described. It should be appreciated that theillustrated control electronics for this non-limiting embodiment of acombination locate and marking device are control electronics 112,previously described with respect to a marking device. However, thefunctionality of the control electronics 1630 as discussed in connectionwith FIG. 14 may be realized by the control electronics 112 in thisnon-limiting embodiment; similarly, the processor 118 in the embodimentof FIG. 17 may perform the functionality previously described withrespect to both the processor 118 of FIG. 2 and the processor 1632 ofFIG. 14.

The operation of the components of combination locate and marking device1810 may be coordinated in various manners. As has been describedpreviously herein, the detection electronics may operate to detect thepresence or absence of a target object, such as an underground facility.The marking-related components (e.g., actuation system 120, markingdispenser 116, etc.) may be used in connection with dispensing a markingmaterial, for example to mark the location of an underground facilityonce detected. In practice, the two activities (detecting a targetobject and marking a location of the target object) may not coincidetemporally. Rather, a locate technician may scan an area one or moretimes to detect the presence of the target object, or may have to scanover a large area to determine the extent of the target object,utilizing the locate receiver functionality of the combination locateand marking device. In some embodiments, the locate technician mayoperate the combination locate and marking device to dispense a markingmaterial after the target object is detected, or in some instancesintermittently while detecting the target object (e.g., while followingthe length of an underground facility). Thus, various schemes may beemployed to coordinate the object detection functionality and themarking functionality.

According to some embodiments, the object detection functionality andthe marking functionality may operate at separate times. For example, inone such embodiment, the combination locate and marking device mayseparately operate in a detection mode and a marking mode, and a user(e.g., locate technician) may select which mode to use, for example byselecting the mode from the user interface. In such an embodiment, theuser may operate the combination locate and marking device as a locatereceiver until the target object is detected, and then may switch modesto a marking mode, in which the user may operate the combination locateand marking device to dispense marking material. In another suchembodiment, the combination locate and marking device may operatesubstantially continuously as a locate receiver until the user actuatesthe actuation system 120, at which time the locate receiverfunctionality may automatically be suspended and the combination locateand marking device may shift to a marking mode for dispensing markingmaterial. Other manners of coordinating the functionality of acombination locate and marking device are also possible, as thosemanners explicitly listed herein are provided primarily for purposes ofillustration.

In addition, as described further below, a combination locate andmarking device is further configurable to operate in a landmark mode,according to one embodiment of the present invention. In some suchembodiments, the landmark mode may be a distinct mode which may selectedby the user, much like the above-described selection of the objectdetection functionality and the marking functionality. However, othermanners in which the combination device may be placed into a landmarkmode of operation are also possible.

It should be appreciated from the foregoing discussion that locateinformation generated in connection with the object detectionfunctionality of a combination locate and marking device may notcoincide temporally with the generation of marking informationassociated with the marking functionality of the combination locate andmarking device. The logging and/or transmission of locate and/or markinginformation generated by a combination locate and marking device may becoordinated in various manners, and the aspects of the inventionrelating to combination locate and marking devices are not limited toany particular manner of logging and/or transmitting such information.Table 15 illustrates some exemplary schemes for coordinating loggingand/or transmission of information relating to both the locate andmarking functionality of a combination locate and marking device. Itshould be appreciated that the examples of Table 15 are not exhaustive,and that other schemes are also possible.

TABLE 15 Schemes for Logging and/or Transmitting Information fromCombined Locate and Marking Device Locate Information MarkingInformation Continuous Actuation-based Periodic Periodic PeriodicActuation-based Periodic Event-response Actuation-based PeriodicActuation-based Actuation-based Actuation-based Event-response

According to one embodiment, locate information generated in connectionwith the locate receiver functionality of combination locate and markingdevice 1810 may be logged and/or transmitted continuously. For example,object detection-related information such as the detected magnetic fieldstrength (expressed, for example, as a percentage of the maximumdetectable magnetic field strength), the magnitude of the electricalcurrent creating the detected magnetic field, and the location of thecombination locate and marking device may be logged continuously tolocal memory 122, for example in one or more electronic records in thelocal memory 122. According to one such embodiment, information relatingto any marking performed with the combination locate and marking device(e.g., marking material information, position of the combination locateand marking device, duration of actuation, etc.) may be logged uponactuation of the actuation system 120.

According to another embodiment, locate information generated inconnection with the locate receiver functionality of combination locateand marking device 1810 may be logged and/or transmitted periodically(e.g., at least every two seconds, every five seconds, or at any othersuitable intervals). For example, the locate information may be loggedin local memory 122 and/or transmitted to remote computer 150 viacommunication interface 124 every five seconds, every ten seconds, everythirty seconds, every minute, every five minutes, or at any other timeinterval. According to one such embodiment, marking information relatingto any marking performed with the combination locate and marking device(e.g., marking material information, position of the combination locateand marking device, duration of actuation, etc.) may be logged uponactuation of the actuation system 120.

According to another embodiment, locate information generated inconnection with the locate receiver functionality of combination locateand marking device 1810 may be logged in response to an event. The eventmay be the detection of an underground facility, for example asindicated by detection of a magnetic field magnitude above a thresholdvalue, may be the detection of the absence of an underground facility,may be the taking of a depth measurement, or may be any other event ofinterest. As but one example, information relating to magnetic fieldstrength, detected electrical current magnitude, geographical locationof the combination locate and marking device, and timing information maybe automatically logged into an electronic record in local memory 122upon detection by RF antenna 1624 of a magnetic field magnitudeexceeding a threshold value. Other events, however, may additionally oralternatively be used to trigger logging of locate information relatedto the locate receiver functionality.

In some such embodiments in which locate information relating to thelocate receiver functionality is logged and/or transmitted in responseto detection of an event of interest, marking material may beautomatically dispensed in response to detection of the event andmarking information about the marking functionality may be automaticallylogged into the local memory 122, for example in combination with theelectronic record(s) relating to the locate receiver functionality or inone or more separate electronic records. In others of such embodimentsin which locate information relating to the locate functionality islogged and/or transmitted in response to detection of an event ofinterest, marking material may be dispensed only upon actuation by auser (e.g., a locate technician), and marking information relating tothe marking functionality may be logged in local memory 122 and/ortransmitted to remote computer 150 via communication interface 124 uponactuation of the actuation system 120. In some embodiments, theactuation system may be disabled until the one or more types of events(e.g., detection of a magnetic field of suitable magnitude, detection ofthe presence of an applied signal from a transmitter, etc.) occurs, atwhich time the actuation system may be enabled and a user may choosewhether or not to actuate the system.

In yet other embodiments, locate information relating to the locatereceiver functionality of the combination locate and marking device andmarking information relating to the marking functionality are bothlogged in local memory and/or transmitted (e.g., to a remote computer)upon actuation of the actuation system 120. In some embodiments, bothtypes of information are logged and/or transmitted for a same actuationof the actuation system 120. In other embodiments, separate actuationsare used to log and/or transmit locate information relating to thelocate receiver functionality and marking information relating to themarking functionality, which in some embodiments may depend at leastpartially on whether the combination device is in a locate mode or amarking mode of operation.

While various schemes have been described by which information relatingto both the locate receiver functionality and the marking functionalityof combination locate and marking device may be logged and/ortransmitted, it should be appreciated that other schemes are alsopossible. The various aspects described herein relating to a combinationlocate and marking device are not limited to any particular manner ofcoordinating logging and/or transmission of information relating to theoperation of the device.

According to those embodiments of the invention relating to acombination locate and marking device, various events may be logged forone or more of the locate, marking, and landmark functionality(described further below). For example, events according to Tables 2-5for the marking functionality may be logged. Events according to Tables12-13 for the locate functionality may be generated. Other event typesare also possible, as it should be appreciated that those explicitlydescribed herein are primarily for purposes of illustration and are notlimiting of the types of events that may be logged. For example, anevent may be logged corresponding to a mode selection between a locatemode, a marking mode, and a landmark mode of a combination locate andmarking device, in those embodiments in which such a device may beoperated in the three described modes. Table 16 below provides anexample of content and format for a mode select event entry that may belogged in a file for an electronic record and/or transmitted by thecombination locate and marking device. The example mode select evententry shown below in Table 16 follows a similar format to that used forthe event entry examples provided in Tables 2-5 and 8 above. It shouldbe appreciated that other types of events may also or alternatively belogged, and that the examples described herein are provided primarilyfor purposes of illustration.

TABLE 16 Format INFO+CMBMODE: (DATE) (TIME) (WAND_ID) (JOB_ID) (MODE)<CR><LF> Examples INFO+CMBMODE: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:03:44)WAND(2334) JOB(4000) MODE (LOCATE) <CR> <LF> INFO+CMBMODE:DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:10:32) WAND(2334) JOB(4000) MODE (MARKING) <CR><LF> INFO+CMBMODE: DATE(2009-04-15) TIME(12:11:12) WAND(2334) JOB(4000)MODE (LANDMARK) <CR> <LF>

As discussed above in connection with both marking devices and locatedevices, in yet another embodiment, the processor of a combinationlocate and marking device may be configured to generate an essentiallycontinuous stream of data packets representing various event entrieslogged by the device. In particular, each data packet may include aheader, one or more flag fields, and one or more information payloadfields. To accommodate one or more of a locate mode, a marking mode anda landmark mode, one or more flag fields may be set or reset uponselection of the respective modes so as to identify the contents of anyinformation payload field in the data packet as one of locateinformation, marking information, and landmark information. Similarly,as discussed above, one or more other flag fields may be set (or reset)upon occurrence of one or more predetermined interrupt events (e.g.,pull/depress actuator, release actuator, marking dispenser in, markingdispenser out, logging of locate receiver based on signal strength orother event, low power, communication link fail, etc.). In this manner,a continuous stream of data may be provided as an output by theprocessor, in which certain interrupt events, such as an actuationand/or release of the actuator, “tag” certain data packets via aninterrupt flag, and certain data packets also may be tagged as generatedin a particular operating mode. In yet other aspects of this embodiment,all data packets thusly generated may be stored in the file opened forthe electronic record and/or transmitted from the device in essentiallyreal time; alternatively, only certain data packets with one or morepredetermined flags set may be stored and/or transmitted.

Table 17 below illustrates one non-limiting example of four electronicrecords that may be stored in the local memory 122 of the combinationlocate and marking device 1810, each corresponding, for example, to aseparate actuation event of actuation system 120. It should beappreciated, however, that these are merely examples, and that variousalternative electronic records may be generated according to the aspectsof the invention, for example reflecting different types of informationassociated with operation of a combination locate and marking device.

Each of the four records of Table 17 includes general information notlimited to either the locate receiver functionality or markingfunctionality of the combination device, such as an identification ofthe service provider (Service provided ID), an identification of theuser (User ID), an identification of the device (Device ID), andinformation about the requestor of the locate operation and therequested address (Locate request data). In addition, an entrydescribing the mode of data collection (e.g., Manual) for the device isalso collected, which may indicate that information is logged into therecord(s) upon actuation of the actuation system 120. Information aboutthe actuation itself, such as the time of actuation (Timestamp data),actuation duration, and geographical location at the start, during,and/or at and end of the actuation may also be included. The electronicrecords also include information relating to the locate receiverfunctionality of the combination locate and marking device, includingthe receiver detection mode (i.e., PEAK in Table 17), the strength of adetected signal, the gain of the receiver, and the frequency of thedetected signal. Information relating to a depth measurement (Facilitydepth) is also included, as is information about the marking material tobe dispensed by the combination locate and marking device. Informationabout the remaining battery life of the device may also be included, inthose embodiments in which the combination device includes a battery.Again, it should be appreciated that Table 17 is an illustration of oneelectronic record that may be generated in association with operation ofa combination locate and marking device, and that other forms ofelectronic records are also possible.

TABLE 17 Electronic Record for Combination Locate and Marking DeviceRecord Service provider ID 0482 # 1001 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362Device mode Mode = MANUAL Timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:15 Actuationduration 0.5 sec Start actuation location 2650.9348, N, 08003.5057, Wdata End actuation location 2650.9353, N, 08003.5055, W data Locate modeMode = PEAK Signal strength (% of 85% maximum) Gain  45 Signal frequency1 kHz Facility depth 3.4 meters Marking material data Color = RED, Brand= ABC Battery strength data 85% Ground type Pavement Other info (textentry) “excavator on site for consult” Locate request data Requestor =XYZ Construction Company, Requested service address = 222 Main St,Orlando, FL Record Service provider ID 0482 # 1002 User ID 4815 DeviceID 7362 Device mode Mode = MANUAL Timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:18Actuation duration 0.4 sec Start actuation location 2650.9256, N,08003.5234, W data End actuation location 2650.9256, N, 08003.5226, Wdata Locate mode Mode = PEAK Signal strength (% of 85% maximum) Gain  45Signal frequency 1 kHz Facility depth 3.4 meters Marking material dataColor = RED, Brand = ABC Battery strength data 84% Ground Type PavementOther info (text entry) “excavator on site for consult” Locate requestdata Requestor = XYZ Construction Company, Requested service address =222 Main St, Orlando, FL Record Service provider ID 0482 # 1003 User ID4815 Device ID 7362 Device mode Mode = MANUAL Timestamp data12-Jul-2008; 09:35:21 Trigger pull duration 0.5 sec Start actuationlocation 2650.9273, N, 08003.5193, W data End actuation location2650.9281, N, 08003.5190, W data Locate mode Mode = PEAK Signal strength(% of 85% maximum) Gain  45 Signal frequency 1 kHz Facility depth 3.4meters Marking material data Color = RED, Brand = ABC Battery strengthdata 83% Ground type Pavement Other info (text entry) “excavator on sitefor consult” Locate request data Requestor = XYZ Construction Company,Requested service address = 222 Main St, Orlando, FL Record Serviceprovider ID 0482 # 1004 User ID 4815 Device ID 7362 Device mode Mode =MANUAL Timestamp data 12-Jul-2008; 09:35:25 Actuation (actuation) 0.5sec duration Start actuation location 2650.9321, N, 08003.5177, W dataEnd actuation location 2650.9325, N, 08003.5176, W data Locate mode Mode= PEAK Signal strength (% of 85% maximum) Gain  45 Signal frequency 1kHz Facility depth 3.4 meters Marking material data Color = RED, Brand =ABC Battery strength data 83% Ground type Pavement Other info (textentry) “excavator on site for consult” Locate request data Requestor =XYZ Construction Company, Requested service address = 222 Main St,Orlando, FL

As discussed above in connection with the marking device shown in FIGS.2 and 3 and the locate device shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, a file for anelectronic record of combined locate information and marking informationmay have any of a variety of formats and include any of a variety ofdata structures. For example, such a file may be a flat file including asuccession of time stamped “event entries” of various locate information(logged automatically as a result of one or more particular conditions,e.g., exceeded thresholds for various signals, or manually as a resultof user actuation of the combined device), marking information (e.g.,logged as a result of user actuation of the combined device), and/orlandmark information, or a differently formatted file (e.g., an ASCIIfile, an XML file, etc.), as well as files having a data structure thatsegregates or separates in some manner the locate, marking, and/orlandmark information into multiple different fields.

Information generated in association with the locate functionality of acombination locate and marking device may be logged and/or transmittedwith information associated with the marking functionality of the devicein any suitable manner. In one embodiment, information generated inassociation with the locate functionality may be logged and/ortransmitted in separate electronic records from information generated inassociation with the marking functionality. The separate records may beindependent in some embodiments, with no coordination between them. Inan alternative embodiment, electronic records generated in associationwith the locate functionality may be coordinated with electronic recordsgenerated in association with the marking functionality, for example byappending one record to another, or by providing linking information,such as a pointer, identifying the separate records as being relevant toeach other. In one non-limiting embodiment, a combination locate andmarking device may be operated in a manner such that it is expected thatlocate information will be collected preceding the collection of markinginformation (for example, one after the other), and separate electronicfiles for the locate and marking operation may be grouped by grouping alocate-related file with a subsequent marking-related file.

In yet other embodiments, such as that described with respect to Table17 above, information associated with the locate functionality may belogged and/or transmitted in a single file including informationassociated with the marking functionality. The information may beidentified as belonging in a single record, in one non-limitingembodiment, using any common key, such as a common timestamp, a commongeographic location (e.g., GPS coordinates), a common job ID, anycombination of information, or any other common key. Thus, even in thoseembodiments in which locate information and marking information are notgenerated at substantially the same time (e.g., when a mode change isused to switch from locate functionality to marking functionality), theinformation may be coordinated and compiled using a common key.

The information logged and/or transmitted by combination locate andmarking device 1810 may be used for various applications. For example,the information may be used to monitor progress and/or operation of theuser, to monitor operation of the device itself, to reconstruct theuser's actions at a later time and date, and/or to compare to historicalinformation. Various examples of computer-assisted visual rendering oflocate information and/or marking information are discussed below insection VI.

FIG. 18 illustrates a perspective view of a non-limiting example of acombination locate and marking device, according to one embodiment. Someof the components illustrated are also shown in FIG. 3 and have beenpreviously described with respect to that figure. The elongated housing1936 in FIG. 18 may be similar to elongated housing 136 of FIG. 3, withsome of the illustrated components being mechanically coupled to (e.g.,affixed to, disposed within, etc.) the elongated housing. The elongatedhousing 1936 may be formed of any rigid, semi-rigid, strong, andlightweight material, such as, but not limited to, molded plastic andaluminum, or any other suitable material(s). The actuation system 120may be the same as that previously shown and described with respect toFIGS. 4A, 4B, and 5, or may be any other suitable actuation system.

The detection electronics 1620 are illustrated as being positionedtoward the tip of the combination locate and marking device 1810. Itshould, however, be appreciated that the detection electronics, which asshown in FIG. 17 comprises multiple components, may be arranged in amore distributed fashion relative to the elongated housing 1936. Forexample, the RF antenna 1624 (which, again, may include any number ofantennae) may be positioned toward the tip of combination locate andmarking device 1810, while the detection circuit 1626 and processingcircuit 1628 may be positioned at other locations, for example nearcontrol electronics 112, or at any other suitable location. It shouldalso be appreciated that electrical connection between two or more ofthe electrical components illustrated in FIG. 18 may be made in anysuitable manner, for example by wired interconnections, as appropriate.

According to one embodiment, one or more components of the detectionelectronics 1620, such as the RF antenna, may be electrically shieldedfrom other components of the combination locate and marking device 1810,for example to prevent the other components from interfering with thedetection of magnetic field by the RF antenna. As an example, a shieldplate 1802 (e.g., made of metal or any other suitable shieldingmaterial) may be positioned suitably to shield one or more components ofthe detection electronics 1620, for example by positioning the shieldplate between the detection electronics and the actuation mechanism 158in FIG. 18. Other configurations are also possible, and not allembodiments of a combination locate and marking device are limited tohaving a shield plate for electrically shielding the detectionelectronics 1620.

The display 146 of the combination locate and marking device 1810 may beused to display various information of interest to a user. For example,information about a detected magnetic field strength, a detected signalfrequency, a mode of operation, or a depth measurement may be displayed.Similarly, information about marking material (e.g., color, brand,amount remaining in a marking material dispenser, etc.) may also bedisplayed to the user. In some embodiments, the display may be a touchscreen display, although other display types are also possible, asdiscussed above in connection with previously described embodiments.

FIGS. 19 and 20 illustrate two non-limiting illustrative methods whichmay employ a combination locate and marking device as described herein,such as combination locate and marking device 1810. It should beappreciated that the ordering of the acts of methods 2000 and 2100 isnot limiting, as the respective acts shown may be performed in variousorders.

Referring to method 2000 of FIG. 19, in act 2010 the electromagneticfield of the target facility to be located is detected by thecombination locate and marking device 1810. More specifically, thedetection electronics 1620 of the combination locate and marking devicemay detect, for example, an electromagnetic field emitted by a facility.The detection circuit 1626 may receive, amplify, and filter signals fromRF antenna 1624. Further, the signals may be digitized in detectioncircuit 1626 and passed to processing circuit 1628, which may performoperations to calculate depth and location of the target facility basedon the electromagnetic fields that are detected by RF antenna 1624. Theoutput that is generated by processing circuit 1628 may then bedisplayed to the user via user interface 126 and/or stored in localmemory 122.

In act 2012, an actuation event of an actuator of the combination locateand marking device is sensed. In act 2014, any information of interestassociated with the combination locate and marking event is captured inresponse to sensing the actuation event. For example, any of theinformation shown in Table 17 may be captured, or any other informationof interest associated with the combination locate and marking device.

In act 2016, information associated with the combined locate and markingevent, including the information captured at block 2014, may be storedand/or transmitted in real time or non-real time to a remote computerand/or network.

Referring to FIG. 20, the method 2100 begins at block 2110, in which anapplied signal is provided on the target facility to be located. Forexample, referring to FIG. 1A, locate transmitter 1505 may be coupled toa target facility and send an applied signal along the target facility.In other embodiments, the applied signal may be an alternating current(AC) signal already present on the target facility (e.g., if the targetfacility is a power line) or may be a signal from locate transmitter1505 that is conductively or inductively coupled to a tracer wire alongthe length of a passive facility, such as a sewer or gas line.

In act 2112, the user loads the marking dispenser into the combinationlocate and marking device. For example, the user of combination locateand marking device 1810 loads marking dispenser 116 into markingmaterial holder 140, as shown in FIG. 18.

In act 2114, the user activates (i.e., powers on) the combination locateand marking device by the actuation of, for example, a manual pushbuttonor toggle switch of user interface 126, or in any other suitable manner.As a result, power from power source 114 is delivered to the activecomponents of combination locate and marking device.

In act 2116, the user performs a scan with the combination locate andmarking device to detect the presence and/or absence of a targetfacility. For example, the user may sweep the combination locate andmarking device over the ground. The signal strength of any detectedelectromagnetic field may be presented to the user via the userinterface. The user interface may include, for example, a visual displayof the signal strength (e.g., display numerical readings of signalstrength, display a variable length bar that corresponds to signalstrength, etc.) and/or an audible tone that varies in pitch and/oramplitude with signal strength.

In act 2118, it is determined whether the target facility is located,for example based upon the strength of any electromagnetic fielddetected in act 2116. If the target facility is located, method 2100proceeds to act 2120, at which the user dispenses marking material, forexample by actuating an actuator of the combination locate and markingdevice. Conversely, if the target facility is not located, method 2100returns to act 2116.

In act 2122, information associated with the locate operation may bestored locally and/or transmitted to an external system or device. Forexample, data, such as the data shown in Table 9, may be stored in localmemory and/or transmitted in real time or non-real time to a remotecomputer and/or network via a communication link of the combinationlocate and marking device.

In act 2124, a determination is made whether the locate and markingoperation is complete, for example based on instructions provided withthe locate request. If the locate operation is complete, method 2100ends. If the locate operation is not complete, method 2100 returns toact 2116.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a combinationlocate and marking device may be configurable to operate in a landmarkmode, substantially the same as the landmark mode described previouslyherein in connection with marking devices and with locate receivers. Thecombination locate and marking device may include any components andcircuitry suitable to allow for operation in a landmark mode, such asthe bypass components, actuation locking components, and/or userinterface components previously described with respect to a markingdevice providing landmark functionality, or any other suitablecomponents and circuitry. Similarly, the types of information collectedand the manner of operation of a combination locate and marking deviceexhibiting landmark functionality may be substantially the same as thatpreviously described with respect to marking devices having landmarkfunctionality.

VI. COMPUTER-GENERATED VISUAL REPRESENTATIONS OF LOCATE AND MARKINGOPERATIONS

With reference to the marking device illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, thelocate device illustrated in FIGS. 14 and 15, the data acquisitionsystem of FIG. 16, or the combined locate and marking device illustratedin FIGS. 17 and 18, in yet another embodiment the processor associatedwith any of these devices (and/or one or more remote computers 150) mayadditionally process various locate information, marking informationand/or landmark information, provided in real time from one or more ofthese devices and/or stored in one or more electronic records, andcontrol a display device (e.g., display 146 or some other displaydevice) to render a computer-generated visual representation of locateinformation, marking information and/or landmark information. Such avisual representation may be used, for example, to provide immediatefeedback to the locate technician, provide essentially real-timefeedback to a supervisor monitoring the technician from a remotelocation, provide a visual record of the locate information, markinginformation and/or landmark information (e.g., for archiving purposes,once one or more electronic records are generated), and/or to verify thequality (e.g., accuracy and completeness) of work performed during thelocate and/or marking operation. It should be appreciated that invarious exemplary implementations of a computer-generated visualrepresentation according to the present invention, any one orcombination of locate information, marking information and landmarkinformation may be visually rendered in a display field.

In various aspects of this embodiment, a visual representation may bestatic in that all available information is presented in a display fieldat one time after collection of the information (e.g., completion of thelocate and/or marking operation and generation of an electronic record);alternatively, the visual representation may be dynamic in thatinformation representing successive actuations of a locate device, amarking device or a combined locate and marking device, or automaticlogging of data in a locate device, is displayed in essentiallyreal-time as it is collected, or may be displayed after collection(e.g., generation of an electronic record) in a time-sequenced animationthat “recreates” the collection of information (e.g., recreates thelocate and/or marking operation) on the time scale in which it wasoriginally acquired.

In other aspects, the relative positions of GPS-identifiedevents/objects noted in an electronic record including one or more oflocate information, marking information and landmark information may bedisplayed (e.g., based on geo-location data and some appropriate scaleof an available display field of display 146) to provide a visualrepresentation. A visual representation may also be rendered in one ormore particular colors corresponding to one or more particularunderground facilities located and/or marked (e.g., see Table 7).

In one exemplary implementation relating to marking operations, such avisual representation may include one “electronic locate mark” displayedin a display field for each actuation/dispensing action of a markingdevice or combined locate and marking device, such that there isessentially a one-to-one correspondence between electronic locate marksand physical locate marks for a given underground facility marked duringa marking operation. Alternatively, in another exemplary implementationof such a visual representation for a marking operation, an essentiallycontinuous solid line (or other line type) may be displayed in a displayfield to represent a given underground facility marked during a markingoperation.

In another aspect of data processing for computer-aided visualrendering, the processor may process the geo-location data in electronicrecords from a locate device, a marking device and/or a combined locateand marking device so as to filter, average, interpolate and/orotherwise “smooth” data (e.g., so as to provide “cleaner” visualrenderings and/or connect successive locate marks represented byrespective actuation data sets of an electronic record); alternatively,“raw data” provided by a given device may be utilized for the visualrepresentation. In yet another aspect of this embodiment, visualrepresentations of multiple locate and/or marking operations fordifferent underground facilities within the same work site/dig area maybe generated in the same display field of a display device so as toprovide a composite visual representation, in which differentunderground facilities may be uniquely identified in some manner (e.g.,by different line types and/or different colors), and one or moreenvironmental landmarks in and/or around the work site/dig area may beidentified using a variety of displayed identifiers (e.g., icons,symbols, marks, shapes, etc.).

In the following discussion, a process for generating a visualrepresentation in a display field based on information in an electronicrecord is described for illustrative purposes based on markinginformation and/or landmark information contained in an electronicrecord (as acquired using a marking device or a combined locate andmarking device). However, it should be appreciated that the generalconcepts outlined below in connection with visual renderings may beapplied similarly to locate information contained in one or moreelectronic records generated by a locate device or a combined locate andmarking device, as well as landmark information contained in one or moreelectronic records generated by a locate device.

FIG. 21 illustrates a flow chart for a process 800 according to oneembodiment of the present invention for generating a visualrepresentation of a marking operation based on an electronic recordand/or essentially real-time information transmission from the markingdevice 110. As noted above, the process 800 may result from theexecution of various embodiments of the marking data algorithm 134 onthe processor 118 of the marking device 110 or the combined locate andmarking device 1810 (to render the visual representation on the display146), or by one or more other remote computers (to render the visualrepresentation on one or more other display devices).

In block 802 of the process 800, if an electronic record has alreadybeen generated for the marking operation in which one or moreunderground facilities are marked and/or environmental landmarkinformation is acquired, the record is examined to determine thegeographic extents of the locate marks and/or environmental landmarks tobe visually rendered on a display device. In particular, the processor118 may review the geo-location data of all actuation data sets of theelectronic record to determine (e.g., based on the respective latitudeand longitude coordinates of the available geo-location data) themaximum extents of the marking operation to be visually rendered.

The maximum extents of the marking operation may be determined in any ofa variety of manners according to different exemplary implementations.For example, in one exemplary implementation, in block 802 the processor118 may determine the centroid of all electronic locate marks and/orenvironmental landmarks represented by respective actuation data sets ofthe electronic record to be displayed. The processor then determines thegeographic extent of the collection of electronic locate marks and/orenvironmental landmarks by determining one or more latitude/longitudecoordinate pairs from the available data having a greatest distance fromthe centroid. In one example, the processor may determine a singlefarthest point from the centroid, and a distance between this farthestpoint and the centroid serves as a radius of a circle that provides an“extents area circle.” In another example, the “farthest opposingcorners” of a rectangle around the centroid may be determined byassigning the centroid as the origin of a reference coordinate system,and finding the coordinate pairs in opposing quadrants of the coordinatesystem having a greatest distance from the centroid (e.g., the+LAT/+LONG and −LAT/−LONG coordinate pairs at a greatest distance fromthe origin) to provide an “extents area rectangle.” Other types ofpolygons and closed shapes (ovals) may be employed to provide an extentsarea for the marking operation to be displayed.

Alternatively, if an electronic record has not been previously generatedand information received in essentially real-time from the markingdevice or the combined locate and marking device is to be displayed in adisplay field, a default extents area may be selected in advance basedon any of a variety of criteria. For example, address and/or sitedescription information provided in a ticket pursuant to which themarking operation is performed may provide a basis on which an extentsarea for the marking operation may be estimated a priori. Similarly, asdiscussed further below in connection with FIG. 24, an available digitalimage of the work site/dig area may be employed to determine or estimatean initial extents area for the marking operation.

In block 804, the extents area of the marking operation to be visuallyrendered is then mapped to an available display field of a displaydevice, using any appropriate scaling factor as necessary, to ensurethat all of the geo-location data in the electronic record fits withinthe display field. For example, in one exemplary implementation, atransformation may be derived using information relating to theavailable display field (e.g., a reference coordinate system using anappropriate scale for a given display field of a display device) to mapdata points within the extents area to the available display field. Inanother aspect of this example, a buffer area around the extents areamay be added to provide one or more suitable margins for the displayedvisual representation, and/or to accommodate different shapes of extentsareas to the available display field of the display device, and anappropriate transformation may be derived based on this optionaladditional buffer area.

Once a transformation is derived to map the marking operation extentsarea to the available display field of a display device, in block 806one or more electronic locate marks and/or one or more identifiers(e.g., icons, symbols, marks, shapes, etc.) is/are rendered in thedisplay field based on applying the transformation to the geo-locationdata present in the data set of one or more corresponding actuation datasets of the electronic record. In one exemplary implementation, oneelectronic locate mark is rendered in the display field for eachactuation data set of an electronic record. With reference again toTable 6 and FIG. 10, in one embodiment each actuation data set includesat least T1 geo-location data for a start of an actuation of a markingdevice and one or more other pieces of geo-location data duringactuation. Using multiple pieces of geo-location data per actuation dataset, an electronic locate mark may be rendered as a line in the displayfield (e.g., so as to visually represent one of the physical locatemarks 414-1, 414-2 or 414-3 shown in FIG. 8). In another exemplaryimplementation, an electronic locate mark may be rendered for eachgeo-location data in a given entry, such that multiple electronic locatemarks correspond to one actuation (e.g., a series of dots electronicallyrendered to graphically represent a line-type physical locate mark). Inone aspect, as discussed above, a given electronic locate mark may berendered in a particular color and/or line type to represent a type ofunderground facility represented by the mark (e.g., as indicated bymarking material information included in the electronic record).

FIG. 22 illustrates a plan view of an exemplary composite visualrepresentation 900 that “electronically recreates” a marking operationfor various underground facilities and environmental landmarks presentin a work site/dig area, based for example on the process 800 discussedabove. In particular, FIG. 22 illustrates a number of electronic locatemarks corresponding to actuations of a marking device whose relativepositions in the display field are derived from actuation data sets ofthe electronic record, as discussed above. In the example of FIG. 22,act-1 through act-7 form a lines pattern 910 representing a first markedunderground facility, act-8 through act-14 form a lines pattern 912representing a second marked underground facility, act-15 through act-24form a lines pattern 914 representing a third marked undergroundfacility, and act-26 through act-34 form a lines pattern 916representing a fourth marked underground facility. FIG. 22 also includesidentifiers for various environmental landmarks disposed in proximity tothe electronic locate marks; in particular, a building 950 is shown inthe top portion of FIG. 22, whereas two utility poles 952 and 954, aswell as a fire hydrant 956, are shown in the bottom portion of FIG. 22.

As noted above, while in one embodiment there may be a one-to-onecorrespondence between electronic locate marks rendered in a single orcomposite visual representation and physical locate marks placed in adig area during a marking operation, or there may be multiple electroniclocate marks for a corresponding physical locate mark, in yet otherembodiments a single or composite visual representation may provide avariety of other indicators/digital representations of markedunderground facilities in a computer-generated visual rendering. Forexample, FIG. 23 illustrates another example of a composite visualrepresentation 1000 based on the same electronic record used to generatethe composite visual representation 900 of FIG. 22, in which continuouslines are used to indicate the respective marking operations. To thisend, in one exemplary implementation, an additional step may be includedin the process 800 shown in FIG. 21, in which the processor may processthe marking geo-location data in an electronic record by filtering,averaging, interpolating and/or otherwise “smoothing” the data so as toconnect successive discrete locate marks represented by the respectiveactuation data sets of the electronic record and thereby provide asubstantially smooth continuous line for display.

Similarly, filtering, averaging, interpolating, processing and/orotherwise smoothing of data may be applied to landmark informationcaptured in landmark event entries. For example, multiple event entrieslogged for a particular environmental landmark (e.g., the four cornersof a pedestal) may be processed so as to provide a single point in adisplay field at which to display a symbol, icon or other identifier foran environmental landmark. Such processing may include, for example,selecting any one of multiple geo-location coordinates captured inmultiple event entries as representative of the landmark location,calculating a centroid of all points represented by capturedcoordinates, “pre-filtering” a collection of coordinates to eliminatesignificant “outliers” and subsequently determining a centroid of theremaining coordinates, etc.

In the example of FIG. 23, as also noted above, different undergroundfacility types may be indicated in different color lines, and thedifferent colors/facility types may be derived from the electronicrecord (e.g., based on the correlations provided in Table 7).Furthermore, in other aspects, text indicators may be included in thevisual representation, and/or other types of coding may be used(different line styles such as patterns, width, bold, etc.; a successionof symbols or other graphic icons, etc.) to indicate different facilitytypes, and/or some other aspect of a given facility (e.g., the materialused for a particular pipe, conduit, cable, sheathing; the diameter of aparticular pipe, conduit, cable; offsets to one or more environmentallandmarks, etc.). By way of example, FIG. 23 indicates that the fourunderground facilities in the composite visual representation correspondto a power line 1010 (which may be rendered in the color red), a firstsewer line 1012 (which may be rendered in the color green), a secondsewer line 1014 (which also may be rendered in the color green), and atelecommunications line 1016 (which may be rendered in the colororange). An exemplary composite visual representation may includeadditional textual, numeric and/or graphic elements to provide otherinformation available in the electronic record for the markingoperations (e.g., timestamp information, ID information, coordinates forlocation information, offset indications, etc.). For example, in FIG. 23an offset 958 of 3 feet is indicated between the fire hydrant 956 andthe sewer line 1014.

In some marking operations, a technician may use the marking device notonly to mark an underground facility's placement/path relative to theground, pavement or other surface, but also to “annotate” the markingoperation in some fashion. For example, in some instances a technicianactually “writes” with the marking device (e.g., by actuating themarking device to dispense paint) to provide text annotations, offsetindications, arrows, other symbols, and the like on the ground, pavementor other surface. Accordingly, the electronic record for a markingoperation may include one or more actuation data sets corresponding toactuations in which the technician was “writing” to annotate the markingoperation in some fashion rather than marking the path of an undergroundfacilities. In some cases, providing such technician annotations on avisual representation of a marking operation may be desirable; however,in other instances such annotations may provide erratic markings on avisual representation, in which case additional processing ofgeo-location data or other information in the electronic record (e.g.,filtering, averaging, interpolating and/or otherwise “smoothing” thedata) may be employed.

In yet another embodiment, a single or composite visual representationof a marking operation, including one or both of marking information andlandmark information, may rendered on a display device together with adigital image representative of at least a portion of a dig area at awork site, such that one or more electronic locate marks and/or one ormore identifiers for environmental landmarks appear in appropriaterelative positions overlaid on the displayed digital image. FIG. 24illustrates yet another example of a composite visual representation1100, albeit based on an electronic record different than that used togenerate the visual representations of FIGS. 18 and 19, in whichcontinuous lines are used to indicate the respective differentunderground facilities marked, and these lines are overlaid on a digitalimage of a dig area, together with identifiers for environmentallandmarks. It should be appreciated that although continuous linesrepresenting underground facilities are depicted on a digital image inFIG. 24, in other embodiments discrete electronic locate markscorresponding to successive actuations of a marking device (or multiplediscrete electronic locate marks per actuation) may be overlaid on adigital image of the dig area.

In the embodiment of FIG. 24, a number of different image sources andimage types may be employed to provide the digital image on which avisual representation of a marking operation may be overlaid. Forpurposes of the present disclosure, such a digital image (also referredto herein as an “input image”) may be any image represented by sourcedata that is electronically processed (e.g., the source data is in acomputer-readable format) to display the image on a display device. Aninput image may include any of a variety of paper/tangible image sourcesthat are scanned (e.g., via an electronic scanner) or otherwiseconverted so as to create source data (e.g., in various formats such asXML, PDF, JPG, BMP, etc.) that can be processed to display the inputimage. An input image also may include an image that originates assource data or an electronic file without necessarily having acorresponding paper/tangible copy of the image (e.g., an image of a“real-world” scene acquired by a digital still frame or video camera orother image acquisition device, in which the source data, at least inpart, represents pixel information from the image acquisition device).

In some exemplary implementations, input images according to the presentdisclosure may be created, provided, and/or processed by a geographicinformation system (GIS) that captures, stores, analyzes, manages andpresents data referring to (or linked to) location, such that the sourcedata representing the input image includes pixel information from animage acquisition device (corresponding to an acquired “real world”scene or representation thereof), and/or spatial/geographic information(“geo-encoded information”).

In view of the foregoing, various examples of input images and sourcedata representing input images according to the present disclosure, towhich the inventive concepts disclosed herein may be applied, includebut are not limited to:

-   -   Manual “free-hand” paper sketches of the geographic area (which        may include one or more buildings, natural or man-made        landmarks, property boundaries, streets/intersections, public        works or facilities such as street lighting, signage, fire        hydrants, mail boxes, parking meters, etc.);    -   Various maps indicating surface features and/or extents of        geographical areas, such as street/road maps, topographical        maps, military maps, parcel maps, tax maps, town and county        planning maps, call-center and/or facility polygon maps, virtual        maps, etc. (such maps may or may not include geo-encoded        information);    -   Facility maps illustrating installed underground facilities,        such as gas, power, telephone, cable, fiber optics, water,        sewer, drainage, etc. Facility maps may also indicate        street-level features (streets, buildings, public facilities,        etc.) in relation to the depicted underground facilities.        Examples of facility maps include CAD drawings that may be        created and viewed with a GIS to include geo-encoded information        (e.g., metadata) that provides location information (e.g.,        infrastructure vectors) for represented items on the facility        map;    -   Architectural, construction and/or engineering drawings and        virtual renditions of a space/geographic area (including “as        built” or post-construction drawings);    -   Land surveys, i.e., plots produced at ground level using        references to known points such as the center line of a street        to plot the metes and bounds and related location data regarding        a building, parcel, utility, roadway, or other object or        installation;    -   A grid (a pattern of horizontal and vertical lines used as a        reference) to provide representational geographic information        (which may be used “as is” for an input image or as an overlay        for an acquired “real world” scene, drawing, map, etc.);    -   “Bare” data representing geo-encoded information (geographical        data points) and not necessarily derived from an        acquired/captured real-world scene (e.g., not pixel information        from a digital camera or other digital image acquisition        device). Such “bare” data may be nonetheless used to construct a        displayed input image, and may be in any of a variety of        computer-readable formats, including XML);    -   Photographic renderings/images, including street level,        topographical, satellite, and aerial photographic        renderings/images, any of which may be updated periodically to        capture changes in a given geographic area over time (e.g.,        seasonal changes such as foliage density, which may variably        impact the ability to see some aspects of the image); and    -   An image, such as any of the above image types, that includes        one or more dig area indicators, or “virtual white lines,” that        provide one or more indications of or graphically delimit a dig        area, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.        12/366,853, incorporated by reference herein. The virtual white        lines may include lines, drawing shapes, shades, symbols,        coordinates, data sets, or other indicators that are added to an        image, and may assist a locate technician in the performance of        a locate operation by identifying the area of interest, i.e.,        the dig area. In this manner, a searchable electronic record        according to the concepts disclosed herein may be generated        based on a previously marked-up input image on which the dig        area is indicated.

It should also be appreciated that source data representing an inputimage may be compiled from multiple data/information sources; forexample, any two or more of the examples provided above for input imagesand source data representing input images, or any two or more other datasources, can provide information that can be combined or integrated toform source data that is electronically processed to display an image ona display device.

As noted above, in some implementations an input image may be indexed toGlobal Positioning System (GPS) coordinates or another coordinate systemthat provides geo-spatial positioning. An input image may includegeo-coding or other geographical identification metadata and may beprovided in any computer-readable format. An input image may alsoinclude images of map symbols, such as roads and street names, that maybe superimposed upon or displayed separately from an underlyinggeographic area when the input image is displayed on a display device.

Based on the foregoing, a digital image may be displayed in an availabledisplay field of a display device either before or after electroniclocate marks and/or identifiers for environmental landmarks aredisplayed in the available display field. For example, in oneimplementation, after the block 806 in FIG. 21, all or a portion of thedigital image may be mapped to the available display field based on anyrelevant geographic information accompanying the digital image (e.g.,GPS coordinates to which the image is indexed). Alternatively, thedigital image may be mapped first to the available display field of thedisplay device depending on appropriate scaling and/or transformationparameters as would be readily appreciated by one of ordinary skill inthe art, and thereafter one or more electronic locate marks and/or oneor more identifiers for environmental landmarks similarly may be mappedto the available display field in appropriate positions relative to theunderlying digital image. In the example of FIG. 24, a first visualrepresentation of a gas line 1130 is depicted, a second visualrepresentation of a communication line 1120 is depicted, and a thirdvisual representation of an electric line 1110 is depicted on an aerialimage of a residential dig area for purposes of illustration. Asdiscussed above in connection with other embodiments, these visualrepresentations may be displayed in different colors and/or line typesto denote different types of underground facilities and/or variousattributes of a given facility. As also illustrated in FIG. 24, othertypes of markings may be included as part of the displayed image,including environmental landmarks such as junction boxes or transformers1140, streets, property boundaries, tie-downs (reference lines betweenmarked facilities and environmental landmarks and/or propertyboundaries) and their associated dimensions, and one or more text boxes2173 (e.g., to indicate an address of the work site over the residence),and the like.

As noted earlier, it should be appreciated that the general conceptsoutlined above in connection with visual renderings may be appliedsimilarly to locate information contained in event entries and/or one ormore electronic records generated by a locate device or a combinedlocate and marking device. For example, in addition to, or alternativelyto, one or both of marking information and landmark information, anelectronic representation of locate information (e.g., geo-location datarelating to detection of one or more underground facilities) may bevisually rendered in a display field, including overlaying such anelectronic representation on a digital (input) image. In this manner, acomprehensive visual representation of activity relating to a locate andmarking operation may be generated. In various exemplaryimplementations, locate information may be filtered, interpolated,smoothed or otherwise processed, as discussed above in connection withmarking information and landmark information. Additionally, locateinformation and marking information, if displayed together, may bedifferentiated in a display field in any of a variety of manners (e.g.,different line types, symbols or patterns; different colors or shades ofrelated colors; artificially offset from each other in the display fieldif marking information and locate information overlap or aresufficiently close to each other in some instances, etc.) to allow forvisual perception of both locate information and marking information.

To this end, in one embodiment, each of locate information, markinginformation and landmark information, if present in a computer-aidedvisual rendering, as well as any constituent information forming part ofthe locate information, marking information and landmark information,may be displayed as separate “layers” of the visual rendering, such thata viewer of the visual rendering may turn on and turn off displayedinformation based on a categorization of the displayed information. Forexample, all locate information may be categorized generally under onelayer designation (“locate layer”), and independently enabled ordisabled for display (e.g., hidden) accordingly. Similarly, all markinginformation may be categorized generally under another layer designation(“marking layer”) and independently enabled or disabled for displayaccordingly, and all landmark information may be categorized generallyunder yet another layer designation (“landmark layer”) and independentlyenabled or disabled for display accordingly. Respective layers may beenabled or disabled for display in any of a variety of manners; forexample, in one implementation, a “layer directory” or “layer legend”pane may be included in the display field (or as a separate windowselectable from the display field of the visual rendering), showing allavailable layers, and allowing a viewer to select each available layerto be either displayed or hidden, thus facilitating comparative viewingof layers.

Furthermore, any of the above-mentioned general categories for layersmay have sub-categories for sub-layers, such that each sub-layer mayalso be selectively enabled or disabled for viewing by a viewer. Forexample, under the general layer designation of “marking layer,”different facility types that may have been marked during a markingoperation (and indicated in the marking information by color, forexample) may be categorized under different sub-layer designations(e.g., “marking layer—electric;” “marking layer—gas;” etc.); in thismanner, a viewer may be able to hide only the electric markinginformation while viewing the gas marking information, or vice versa, inaddition to having the option to view or hide all marking information.Sub-layer designations similarly may be employed for the locateinformation and the landmark information (e.g., “landmarklayer—water/sewer;” “landmark layer—CATV”). Virtually any characteristicof the information available for display may serve to categorize theinformation for purposes of display layers or sub-layers; for example, alocate sub-layer designation of “locate layer—battery low” may beemployed to specifically enable or disable for display any data pointsin the locate information that were collected when locate statusinformation indicated a low battery condition (and, as a result,possibly suspect data).

Various examples of visual representations such as those illustrated inFIGS. 22-24 may be used for various purposes, including, but not limitedto:

-   -   (1) The display may be viewed by the technician for        substantially immediate feedback of his/her work performed,        which can be compared against the ticket information to ensure        that the full scope of the current locate and marking operation        has been completed satisfactorily.    -   (2) The display may be viewed by a supervisor (using remote        computer 150 that is receiving the data) as substantially        immediate feedback of work performed by the technician, which        again can be compared against the ticket information to ensure        that the full scope of the current locate and marking operation        has been completed satisfactorily. When the supervisor is        viewing the locate and marking operation in real time, he/she        may contact the technician in real time in the event that the        work is unsatisfactory;    -   (3) The display may be viewed by a quality control supervisor        (using remote computer 150 that has received the data) as        feedback of work performed by the technician, which again can be        compared against the ticket information to ensure that the full        scope of the current locate and marking operation has been        completed satisfactorily. By viewing the operation, the quality        control supervisor may dispatch a quality control technician or        other personnel in the event that there is the operation is        unsatisfactory, and    -   (4) The display may be viewed by a training supervisor as        feedback of work performed by the technician, which can be used        to assess employee performance and direct training activities.

VII. CONCLUSION

Regarding the marking devices, locate devices and combined locate andmarking devices according to various embodiments of the inventiondescribed herein, the data (e.g., locate information and markinginformation) that may be acquired and analyzed is not limited to thatdescribed with reference to the various figures and tables herein, andmay be used for any purpose. The data of interest that may be acquiredand analyzed may include, but is not limited to, various timestamp data,geo-location information, direction information, any informationincluded in the standard data stream of the locate tracking system(e.g., GPS system), color/type of marking material, amount of markingmaterial in a marking dispenser, serial number of marking dispenser(e.g., barcode, RFID), ID information (e.g., individual, vehicle, wageand/or hour compliance), battery status of the device, angle of spray ofmarking material (e.g., using an inclinometer), wired/wirelessconnection status, Bluetooth® signal strength, storage capacity of thelocal memory, temperature, humidity, light level, movement of thedevice, mode of operation of the device, docking state of the device(e.g., docked/undocked, charging/not charging), alerts againstexpectations in performance (e.g., compare amount and/or type of markingmaterial sprayed against facility maps), and any combination thereof.

The information, such as shown in various tables herein, that may beacquired by use of the data acquisition systems, apparatus and methodsdescribed herein, may be used for any purpose. In an embodiment, theinformation of the data acquisition system may be analyzed againstexpected locate and marking operations in order to gain benefits in, forexample, operating efficiency, personnel management, inventorymanagement, quality control, training operations, safety, customersatisfaction, and the like.

Additionally, the information that is acquired by use of the dataacquisition systems, apparatus, and methods of the present disclosuremay be correlated to other aspects of locate and marking operations.This correlation may occur, for example, by performing complex eventprocessing (CEP) using multiple data streams from multiple devices. Forexample, one or more data streams (e.g., respective event entries or oneor more electronic records) transmitted by a locate device, a markingdevice, or a combined locate and marking device may be correlated toinformation obtained from one or more other devices in order toaggregate, assess, evaluate, draw insights from, take action on thisinformation, and any combination thereof. Correlating disparate datastreams may be useful in order to better interpret and/or gain newinterpretations that are useful. For example, by analyzing theaggregated data, field service providers may gain visibility into thedistributed workforce, may take corrective and/or any other constructiveaction to improve process management, may improve and/or develop bestpractices, and any combination thereof. In an embodiment, certain trendsmay be identified by correlating historical records of the amount oftime that is spent performing locate and marking operations to otherinformation, such as, but not limited to, the time of day, time of year,address of the locate site, experience of the locate technician, weatherconditions, heavy or light traffic times, and the like.

While various inventive embodiments have been described and illustratedherein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision avariety of other means and/or structures for performing the functionand/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantagesdescribed herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications isdeemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments describedherein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations describedherein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters,dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon thespecific application or applications for which the inventive teachingsis/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able toascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalentsto the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is,therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presentedby way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claimsand equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practicedotherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventiveembodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individualfeature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein.In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent,is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

The above-described embodiments can be implemented in any of numerousways. For example, the embodiments may be implemented using hardware,software or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, thesoftware code can be executed on any suitable processor or collection ofprocessors, whether provided in a single computer or distributed amongmultiple computers.

The various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded assoftware that is executable on one or more processors that employ anyone of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, suchsoftware may be written using any of a number of suitable programminglanguages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may becompiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code thatis executed on a framework or virtual machine.

In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as acomputer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storagemedia) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compactdiscs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuitconfigurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductordevices, or other tangible computer storage medium) encoded with one ormore programs that, when executed on one or more computers or otherprocessors, perform methods that implement the various embodiments ofthe invention discussed above. The computer readable medium or media canbe transportable, such that the program or programs stored thereon canbe loaded onto one or more different computers or other processors toimplement various aspects of the present invention as discussed above.

The terms “program” or “software” are used herein in a generic sense torefer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executableinstructions that can be employed to program a computer or otherprocessor to implement various aspects of embodiments as discussedabove. Additionally, it should be appreciated that according to oneaspect, one or more computer programs that when executed perform methodsof the present invention need not reside on a single computer orprocessor, but may be distributed in a modular fashion amongst a numberof different computers or processors to implement various aspects of thepresent invention.

Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally,program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Typically the functionality of the program modulesmay be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.

Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in anysuitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may beshown to have fields that are related through location in the datastructure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigningstorage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium thatconveys relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanismmay be used to establish a relationship between information in fields ofa data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or othermechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.

Also, various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more methods,of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as part of themethod may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments maybe constructed in which acts are performed in an order different thanillustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, eventhough shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood tocontrol over dictionary definitions, definitions in documentsincorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the definedterms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in thespecification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to thecontrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in theclaims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements soconjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some casesand disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with“and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” ofthe elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be presentother than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause,whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when usedin conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer,in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other thanB); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionallyincluding other elements); etc.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should beunderstood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. Forexample, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall beinterpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, butalso including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and,optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated tothe contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when usedin the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactlyone element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or”as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusivealternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded byterms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or“exactly one of” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims,shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “atleast one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should beunderstood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more ofthe elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including atleast one of each and every element specifically listed within the listof elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the listof elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally bepresent other than the elements specifically identified within the listof elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether relatedor unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as anon-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “atleast one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) canrefer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including morethan one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements otherthan B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally includingmore than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionallyincluding more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including morethan one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitionalphrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,”“containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are tobe understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limitedto. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consistingessentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases,respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual ofPatent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.

What is claimed is:
 1. (canceled)
 2. An apparatus for providing on a display device an electronic rendering of a locate operation to detect a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility, the apparatus comprising: a memory to store processor-executable instructions and locate information, the locate information including: magnetic field information based on a magnetic field detected by at least one receiver antenna of at least one locate device used for the locate operation; and geographic information indicating at least one location of the at least one locate device during the locate operation; and a processor coupled to the memory and the display device, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions, the processor: A) displays in a display field of the display device at least one electronic detection mark based at least in part on the locate information stored in the memory, wherein at least one characteristic of the at least one electronic detection mark is based on the magnetic field information, and wherein at least one position in the display field at which the at least one electronic detection mark is displayed is based on the geographic information; and B) displays, on the display device, a digital image representative of at least a portion of an area in which the locate operation is performed, the digital image generated based on at least one of an aerial image, photographic image, facility map, architectural drawings, construction drawings, engineering drawings, and land survey data; wherein the at least one electronic detection mark appears in an appropriate position overlaid on the digital image, based at least in part on the geographic information.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, in combination with the display device.
 4. The combination of claim 3, wherein the display device, the memory, and the processor are components of the at least one locate device.
 5. A method for providing on a display device an electronic rendering of a locate operation to detect a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility, the method comprising: A) accessing an electronic record of the locate operation, the electronic record comprising a first data set associated with detection of the at least one underground facility by a locate receiver, wherein the first data set comprises a first piece of geographic information corresponding to a location at which the at least one underground facility was detected; B) for at least the first data set of the electronic record, displaying on the display device at least one electronic detection mark based at least in part on the first piece of geographic information; and C) displaying, on the display device, a digital image representative of at least a portion of an area in which the locate operation is performed, the digital image generated based on at least one of an aerial image, photographic image, facility map, architectural drawings, construction drawings, engineering drawings, and land survey data; wherein: the at least one electronic detection mark appears in an appropriate position overlaid on the digital image, based at least in part on the first piece of geographic information; the locate receiver includes at least one receiver antenna to detect a magnetic field from the at least one underground facility so as to provide magnetic field information based on the detected magnetic field; and at least one characteristic of the displayed at least one electronic detection mark is based on the magnetic field information.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one characteristic of the displayed at least one electronic detection mark comprises at least one of at least one indicator of a magnetic field strength and a depth of the at least one underground facility based on the magnetic field information.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one characteristic of the displayed at least one electronic detection mark includes one or more of a color, a shade, a line-type, a line-style, a symbol, or a graphic icon used for the displayed at least one electronic detection mark based on at least one of the magnetic field strength and the depth of the at least one underground facility.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein displaying on the display device the at least one electronic detection mark comprises displaying at least one of textual, numeric, and graphic elements based on at least one of the magnetic field information and the geographic information.
 9. The method of claim 5, wherein the displayed at least one electronic detection mark comprises a dot or a line at the at least one appropriate position in on the display device based on the geographic information.
 10. The method of claim 5, wherein the geographic information comprises at least one longitude coordinate and at least one latitude coordinate, and wherein displaying on the display device the at least one electronic detection mark comprises displaying the at least one electronic detection mark based at least in part on the at least one longitude coordinate and the at least one latitude coordinate.
 11. The method of claim 5, wherein displaying on the display device the at least one electronic detection mark comprises displaying the at least one electronic detection mark on the display device during the locate operation.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the display device is coupled to or included in the locate receiver, and wherein displaying on the display device the at least one electronic detection mark comprises providing essentially real-time feedback during the locate operation, via the displayed at least one electronic detection mark, to a user of the locate receiver.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the display device is disposed at a location remote from the locate operation, and wherein displaying on the display device the at least one electronic detection mark comprises providing essentially real-time feedback, via the displayed at least one electronic detection mark, to a supervisor monitoring the locate operation from the remote location.
 14. The method of claim 5, further comprising, prior to displaying on the display device the at least one electronic detection mark: receiving at least one event entry from the locate receiver, wherein the at least one event entry includes the geographic information and the magnetic field information.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein receiving the at least one event entry comprises: receiving the at least one event entry as at least one actuation data set collected in response to actuation of the locate receiver, wherein the at least one actuation data set includes the geographic information and the magnetic field information.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein: the at least one event entry includes a plurality of event entries; each event entry of the plurality of event entries includes at least some of the geographic information and at least some of the magnetic field information; and displaying on the display device the at least one electronic detection mark comprises displaying the at least one electronic detection mark based at least in part on the plurality of event entries.
 17. The method of claim 5, wherein accessing the electronic record comprises receiving the electronic record from an archive of previously-completed locate operations.
 18. An apparatus for providing on a display device an electronic rendering of a locate operation to detect a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility, the apparatus comprising: a memory to store processor-executable instructions and an electronic record; and a processor coupled to the memory and the display device, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions, the processor: A) accesses the electronic record of the locate operation, the electronic record comprising a first data set associated with detection of the at least one underground facility by a locate receiver, wherein the first data set comprises a first piece of geographic information corresponding to a location at which the at least one underground facility was detected; B) for at least the first data set of the electronic record, displays on the display device at least one electronic detection mark based at least in part on the first piece of geographic information; and C) displays, on the display device, a digital image representative of at least a portion of an area in which the locate operation is performed, the digital image generated based on at least one of an aerial image, photographic image, facility map, architectural drawings, construction drawings, engineering drawings, and land survey data; wherein: the at least one electronic detection mark appears in an appropriate position overlaid on the digital image, based at least in part on the first piece of geographic information; the locate receiver includes at least one receiver antenna to detect a magnetic field from the at least one underground facility so as to provide magnetic field information based on the detected magnetic field; and at least one characteristic of the displayed at least one electronic detection mark is based on the magnetic field information.
 19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one characteristic of the displayed at least one electronic detection mark comprises at least one of at least one indicator of a magnetic field strength and a depth of the at least one underground facility based on the magnetic field information.
 20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor further, prior to displaying on the display device at least one electronic detection mark: receives at least one event entry from at least one locate device, wherein the at least one event entry includes the geographic information and the magnetic field information.
 21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein: the at least one event entry includes a plurality of event entries; each event entry of the plurality of event entries includes at least some of the geographic information and at least some of the magnetic field information; and displaying on the display device comprises displaying the at least one electronic detection mark based at least in part on the plurality of event entries.
 22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one electronic detection mark includes a single electronic detection mark based on at least two event entries of the plurality of event entries. 